The Cyborg Jillian Weise and Ishmael Reed in Conversation

The Poetry Magazine Podcast

This week, The Cyborg Jillian Weise speaks with Ishmael Reed. Reed is a writer whose decades of work have been immensely influential to Weise. They’ve shared stages and pages as poets, performers, editors, and activists. They both wield humor and satire to seriously consider the violence of our governments, our literature, and the many other forms of erasure that are enacted on the lives and works of disabled people. Born 43 years apart, Reed in Tennessee in 1938, and Weise in Texas in 1981, they share a sort of poetic kinship. Today, they talk about smashing tokenism and the joy of making up new words and new paths.

The Cyborg Jillian Weise reads from the April 2021 issue of Poetry, and Ishmael Reed reads from his newest poetry collection, Why the Black Hole Sings the Blues, Poems 2007-2020.