Ryan Adams + Mary Louise Parker Talk Poetry Love
Posted: September 26th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: arts, galleries, indie rock, new york | Tags: Add new tag, araceli cruz, Mary Louise Parker, new york, poetry, ryan adams | No Comments »
Last night newly married man (i.e. chilled out and off cigarettes), rocker Ryan Adams said the words: fuck/fucking/fuck you approximately 28 times while promoting his second book of poetry Hello Sunshine at the New York Public Library.
“Are there any kids here?” Adams blurted after catching himself hanging on an expletive. “Cause I cuss a lot.”
The lovely and casual — yet at times awkward — discourse between the jumpy musician and his interviewer, fiery actress Mary Louise Parker ran the gamut, from their love and hate relationship toward American poet Mark Strand to Led Zeppelin.
A question most of us were asking ourselves even before the talk began was: why were these two paired up?
The unifying link here stems from a bond they both shared over their love of poetry when they used to be neighbors. Ah! OK, got it. Their fluidity was overtly noticeable as Parker would whisper things to Adams, making sure he stayed on track, moving the length of talk along (she left right before Q&A’s). For the record, the talk was supposed to stay at the running time of a “typical shrink appointment,” though Adams himself said he had never had a session that long before.
Regardless of time, the talk did hit on some interesting topics, like why poetry matters, overused words (rain!), editing poetry or not, the works of Allen Ginsberg, Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, Elizabeth Bishop, Frederick Seidel (or as Adams refers to him by “the Hannibal Lecter of poetry”), and Johnny Temple (bassist of Girls Against Boys and Adams’ publisher under the independent imprint Akashic Books.
Interestingly enough the most spontaneous and sincere moments were when Adams discussed his own works, in music, art and poetry.
“I don’t have a vocation,” he sort of proclaimed. “This is all I can do.”
He discussed variations between his earlier work to the pieces he is producing now under a sober and happier cloud.
“I’m 34 now. I do hypnotherapy,” he said guzzling down green tea. “The biggest dicks become such softies.”
Adams almost avoided sharing some of his own pieces with us (having said he doesn’t like reading his work) and jokingly threatened to leave until the NYPL MC coerced him into doing so. He ultimately read two exquisitely sweet pieces from his new book: Plus Dreams and White Diamonds.
At the end of the evening an attendee asked Adams which poem he’d read if it were the last thing he’d ever read before he died.
Adams responded: The longest one.
– Araceli Cruz
