There’s a famous line of poetry—as famous as poetry gets around here, anyway—about April being the cruellest month, but here’s a different offering (from James Schuyler’s “Hymn to Life”): Press your face into the / Wet April chill: a life mask. Attune yourself to what is happening / Now. If the onset of spring gives you a frenetic, restless feeling, I offer Schuyler’s mode of engaging with what was around him—up close, as if holding all the world’s happenings directly in front of his face & carefully describing what he saw, what was real to him—as an antidote. Curious, attentive, immediate, in thrall.
All to say: the spring fever in me recognizes and honors the spring fever in you. March was a blur, and I should’ve sent this before I forgot what-all happened in February, but here we are.
Track Changes 005 playlist: Eshani Surya & Kristina Ten
Non-exhaustive list of topics discussed: the time Christina Aguilera fired her entire team, rapdily increasing Venn diagram overlaps between beauty culture and body horror, mosh pit etiquette and communal care, the ever-mysterious S design of the ‘90s, the fever dream that is being a teenage girl on this planet. A portion of ticket sales also went to our fundraiser for Tending the Soil, a mutual aid network in MN!
And now… this month, I’m delighted to welcome two absolute gems: Raena Shirali (Philly) & Candice Wuehle (Iowa City)! We’re also celebrating the release of Candice’s new novel, Ultranatural! Hell yes all around.
✧ ✦ Tickets & more info ✦ ✧
Raena Shirali is the author of two books: summonings and GILT. Her accolades include a Pushcart Prize and poetry prizes from Gulf Coast, Boston Review, & Cosmonauts Avenue. Raena has received fellowships from Yaddo, VIDA, Bucknell University, and Carolyn Moore Writers House. She lives in Philadelphia and is thus contractually obligated to say, “Go birds.”
Candice Wuehle is the author of the novel MONARCH (Soft Skull), which was selected as a Best Book of 2002 by NPR. She has also written several collections of poetry, including DEATH INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, which was selected by The Believer Magazine as a finalist for The Believer Prize. She teaches in the University of Iowa's Honors Program and publishes the Substack, Bimbo Summit.
See you there! There’s two events at P&P that night, so make sure you head right upstairs for this; downstairs is an event about Philly’s oldest bar. Which is also compelling, but will they be playing Britney Spears and Tom Petty songs alongside literary readings and spirited yapping? I think not.
♡ Alina