This Poet Is/Not Dust

Rock Me, Mercy - a poem by Yusef Komunyakaa, read by RM

Now I Become Myself - a poem by May Sarton, read by RM

Letter Poem #3 - a poem by James Schuyler, read by RM

In Time - a poem by W.S. Merwin, read by RM

Imaginary Conversation - a poem by Linda Pastan, read by RM

Snowdrops - a poem by Louise Glück, read by RM

Listen - a poem by Barbara Crooker, read by RM

Stumbling - a poem by Dick Lourie, read by RM

The View - a poem by Mark Strand, read by RM

I am Learning to Abandon the World - a poem by Linda Pastan, read by RM

Changing Genres - a poem by Dean Young, read by RM

Bird - a poem by Dorianne Laux, read by RM

Being Present at More Than One Place at a Time - a poem by James Tate, read by RM

After Years - a poem by Ted Kooser, read by RM

The Virtue - a poem by Paul Blackburn, read by RM

These Heroics - a poem by Leonard Cohen, read by RM

Time - a poem by John Wieners, read by RM

Wind Off a River - a poem by Dean Young, read by RM

With a Blessing Rather than Love Said Nietzsche - a poem by Linda Gregg, read by RM

Invictus - a poem by William Ernest Henley, read by RM

Small Kindness - a poem by Danusha Lameris, read by RM

Morelliana - Hopscotch Excerpt - by Julio Cortazar, read by RM

Episode One - Agha Shahid Ali

Kashimiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali died of brain cancer on December 8, 2001 in Amherst, Massachusetts. He was 52.

Poem - The Country Without a Post Office, by Agha Shahid Ali. Interview text by Eric Gamalinda.

Text performed by RM.

A Quick Word

As I’m sure you’ve seen elsewhere on the site (specifically at Emergency Fundraiser for Salim — VMH) my brother Salim has Stage 4 Liver Cirrhosis. Without a liver transplant soon, he will die.

He’s been on the waiting list for almost two years. His work has now moved him to long-term disability and that affects his benefits as well for very expensive medication. The financial strain on him is only exacerbating his condition.

We’ve been running a fundraiser for him, but it’s going pretty slow lately. We’ve also set up a campaign to help find him a living liver donor, but there are layers of bureaucracy that make it challenging to receive a transplant from a living donor in this country.

The fundraiser is for his rent, food & medication but more, it’s to buy us enough time to find him that living liver donor to save his life. If we can cover his expenses for the next two months, I can spend more time searching for a living liver donor to not only help him, but raise awareness for many others in our country who are in need of a transplant to save their lives (& how someone can help by being a living donor)

With that in mind, I’ll be doing a marathon of performances. Day after day, until we reach our goal, you’ll receive new work from Roncesvalles 2013 to the Audio Drama/RPGs, to This Poet Is/Not Dust (& a lot more) You can support my brother Salim at the link/button below.

I know it’s hard out there. I know of the financial uncertainty of things. But if everyone reading this donated $25 or more to him, it buys him that time for me to find him that living liver donor and we save his life.

If you’re willing to help us, you can visit this link - Emergency Fundraiser for Salim — VMH or simply click on the ‘Donate’ button below (& if you do, on behalf of my brother & my family, thank you)