Sex tape? Kardashians? This week’s podcast has a little bit of both as the gang, consisting of Kathleen, Tim, Marion, Jason along with his partner Michael and Ali the new PBQ co-op, examines the work of the talented Jameka Williams.
Jameka Williams is an MFA candidate at Northwestern University hailing from Chester, PA, fifteen miles southeast of Philadelphia. Her poetry has been published in Prelude Magazine, GiganticSequins, Powder Keg Magazine, Yemassee Journal, and Tupelo Quarterly. Muzzle Magazine nominated her poem, “Yeezus’ Wife [when asked what do you actually do],” from their June 2017 issue for “Best of the Net 2017” and the Pushcart Prize. She resides in Chicago, IL.
The team touched upon The Sex Tape’s structure, praising the stanza’s execution and how the lack of punctuation worked well for the first poem. After talks about a variety of gods (yes—gods and sex tapes—listen, you’ll see) the vote was completed and the crew dove right into her second piece, The Kardashians for a Better America
The second speaks of illumination and even sympathy for the muse the poet had tried to connect with, providing a different perspective to the editorial board. One of the most interesting points of the discussion came from Michael, who had made connections to a video game relevant to the context of the poem. As the episode was winding down, Marion linked the subject of the piece to an essay she had read previously and everyone voted once again.
How does talk of botched iced coffee orders lead into discussions of poetry? How does desire possibly relate to the very topic Williams’ poetry? What dictates the moments in pop culture that “stick?” Did both make it through the editorial process? Plug in and find out, as these questions are bound to keep listeners up at night, much like the antics of the Kardashian family.
[the sex tape]
Kim worships our god: the god of snow & the god of fucking the god of moisturizer the god of grainy iPhone footage the god who invented Black men the god of no bad publicity the god of an indestructible body
the god of porn the god who wears two faces & waist-trimmers the god of the soft curled penis eclipsing the thighs the god of x-ray vision the god who made his children lustful the god who will be here recording her when she cries & is lonely when she thinks she is dying she is dissolving into nothingness & that god will record & do nothing the god of Nielsen ratings
the god of old magic tricks (here she is! here she is not!) the god of thankless sacrifice the god who told her to smile & her nipples smiled the god of what-goes-around-comes-back the god of a body which cannot be ruined the god who asks if we think she is harming the culture the god who asks if we think she is being used the god who wonders what her children think the god who says Yes Yes when the answer is
THE KARDASHIANS FOR A BETTER AMERICA
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood™
I go vegan-souping over corpses of black lovers suffer their cocaine addictions
all awash in lube lidocaine aglow in my gums teeth
brighter than tequila wear all white membrane on my tight brown body
Coco Chanel cape/for sex tomorrow night corset thin/like a victim
crawled through spoon shots of silicon dioxide cut with honey
read my green tea leaves: i'm not depressed anymore i just have desires
my psychiatrist
says
to exfoliate
better
Level 2/Haunt a talkshow this morning/Kiss a solider on his cheek center
stage/You are the love of his life/He keeps you folded in the pocket of his
shorts/You must rise to every occasion/Sneeze a few million dollars before
dinner/Keep fans from coming all over you/Get acknowledged by a cage of
mirrors/Sleep off the demons in the backseat of a tinted Benz/(entertainment-
interrogation-interlude: how often does Kim scratch herself from the official
record of her life?/her tongue is ghost-like or godly?)/With gold stars you
purchase a puppy/He sleeps alongside you/In frightened snatches:
My avatar smiles back
she & i cry like real
humans do
Present at editorial table:
Kathleen Volk Miller
Marion Wrenn
Jason Schneiderman
Tim Fitts
Michael Broder
Ali Ziabakhsh-Tabari
Engineering Producer:
Joe Zang
Leave a Reply