Late night poetry vibes with Mary Boo Anderson
Hello, and welcome back to the Nightwater podcast. If you're joining us here at the cooler for the first time, you are also welcomed to the Nightwater in case you don't know, in case you just randomly found this in your podcast app or on the web or in a link, Nightwater is a late night email newsletter that delivers refreshing content straight to your inbox every Tuesday evening, Eastern time. So if you're not signed up, head over to nightwater.email. That's a URL, nightwater dot email just put in your email address and get that late night content injected directly into your inbox. It's It's also a website, so you can go and read the whole archive.
Speaker 1:You can, like, see if the content is, like, good for you. If you're like, oh, this is this is truly refreshing. Or if you're like, this is not as refreshing as I was sold, this is not the kind of refreshing content that I'm looking for on a Tuesday evening. That's fine. You don't have to put in your email address, but you can read it all.
Speaker 1:Leave a little comment. Leave it a little like. We love it regardless. So for this week, I wanted to bring you something a little special. So a few weeks ago, I saw my friend, Mary boo Anderson, performing at a virtual Zoom poetry reading for Peach Mag.
Speaker 1:And I thought, damn, let's bring that energy to night water. Let's get a little late night poetry reading going. And so that's exactly what we did, and I will just let Mary boo take it away from here.
Speaker 2:Hi. My name is Mary boo Anderson. I'm a poet, artist, teacher. I currently live in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1:You do a lot of stuff, which I would encourage people to go to your website and like, look at all the projects that you've done and all your poetry. But I'm curious how you would describe your poetry in terms of, like, where you draw inspiration and and what kind of themes you like to explore and how that is maybe different or the same from other artistic work that you do?
Speaker 2:That's a great question. Yeah. I would say my poetry I like poetry that's sort of silly, but also sort of comments on our weird current society. I also if you know me, I really enjoy things that are kind of performative or kind of shickey or kind of have some surprises in them. So I think I draw a lot on that kind of vibe, like absurdism, fluxism, like the situationist kind of creating opportunities where maybe no one would expect there to be an opportunity type of thing in my poetry as well as in my artwork.
Speaker 1:Do you feel like your poetry has allowed you to explore that in a different way than than creating a physical or or digital art piece?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think so. I was just thinking about that today. I think sometimes in writing, it forces you to explore it deeper sometimes, I think, because there's less space to hide. You know?
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's nice to just start doing a visual piece of art, and you can kind of hide, and, oh, I wanna make this look pretty. Or, oh, like, I'm gonna try this technique or something. And I you can try techniques in writing, obviously, and you can make writing look pretty. But somehow it still feels different. You're kinda forced to confront, things a little differently, which I enjoy.
Speaker 2:It's more of a challenge, honestly, to me.
Speaker 1:I'm curious about that in terms of, you know, performing poetry versus reading it on the page as well because it's been, I know with the pandemic, a lot less poetry readings in general. So I'm curious how you feel about that in terms of the experience of performing it and hearing it versus, reading it on the page. Because I know also in your in your poetry, you explore like, a lot of, like, Internet language or, like, spelling things, you know, differently, more like texting. So I'm curious, like, kind of how you feel that affects, the experience of it versus hearing it out loud.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think both are equally good, and I think a good reading, kinda, gives you more insight into the poem, which that's why I enjoy going to readings. And I think, yeah, like you're saying, I do use a lot of chat speak. I do use a lot of, like, abbreviated words and stuff, which I think you can only kinda capture on the page. But sometimes I do think, like, my affect and how I break lines up when I talk and stuff like that, I think really helps give the reader even more perspective on, kind of, what I'm going for, what the attitude of the poem is, stuff like that.
Speaker 1:I love it. How many poems do you have for us today?
Speaker 2:I have 3 poems. Alright. So I'll introduce the poem then read it, and then do that consecutively. Beautiful. Sounds great.
Speaker 2:Alright. Wonderful. Thank you, for this. I'm so excited. Alright.
Speaker 2:This first poem I wrote when I was a barista, and I was getting into some trouble, but not in the ways you would think. My manager caught me on on the tape of me, just my head down, asleep at the bar, but she was very nice about it. She she had a talk with me, and, she was like, you could do better. I'm like, yeah. You're right.
Speaker 2:I can. But don't want to, but I could. Anyways, it's kind of a silly poem. It's also a shout out to my friend, Molly Lamb, who's really, really cool, and an amazing writer herself. Alright.
Speaker 2:This is the poem. Capitalism in the form of me, always just about to buy some pink crocs as a consolation prize. Fingers stained red from talkies. I'm reading on my phone at work again. That book everyone's reading.
Speaker 2:The one by that hot new young female essayist. My friend took a pic of every single page in the Barnes and Noble and sent it to me. I see her fingers holding back the pages. I understand not wanting to buy the hardcover, but also not wanting to wait. Today, I had a first session with a new therapist.
Speaker 2:I felt proud of myself when I told her, I'm finding it difficult to talk to you because you keep dozing off. There is a woman taking a shit in this Whole Foods bathroom, and it's perfect. This next poem I wrote kind of at the beginning of the pandemic when I got laid off from that said barista job, and I was trying to make my apartment really nice before COVID got too crazy, so that's about that. In IKEA at the end of the world. I'm eating 2 veggie dogs at IKEA, and it's empty because it's the end of the world.
Speaker 2:Wandering through the display room maze. Goldilocks trying every couch, bed, and chair. The thrill to own everything in a house that's not yours. Sexily sulking in so many different banal interiors. Swedish design with a penchant for gentle placation.
Speaker 2:I didn't make this bed, but I'm lying in it. The world is over, wah wah, paws to eyes, lips to chin. It's possible that the princess felt the pee under all of those mattresses because there is nothing else to feel. Alright. Last poem.
Speaker 2:This poem was also early early pandemic poem. Early, yeah. Watching, waiting, commiserating, Car alarm on loop remains preferable to I told you so, the comforting refrain of a TV theme song. In Brooklyn, the motorbike boys still night still night ride down Nostrand. The street cats still make bodegas their homes.
Speaker 2:Sometimes the only good things are dogs and flowers, but then I remember fruit and horses, and the couple giving out pineapples to everyone in this park. Hold music
Speaker 1:plays. I love all of it. I love the vision of, like, IKEA at the end of the world. The I can imagine I can imagine, like, actually, like being hold up in like the, Redhook, IKEA, just like like the zombies at the door or whatever. And you're kind of stuck in this like kind of perfect, environment or these kind of like open apartments all the time as well.
Speaker 2:Definitely. This weird mini world.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Before we wrap up, have to ask you the most important question anyone's ever been asked. What do you imagine from the phrase late night vibes?
Speaker 1:And then what do you think are your kind of ideal late night vibes?
Speaker 2:I think to me, they're one of the same. I think of just cozy. Cozy on the couch. I have a blanket. It's a little too cold, but I need the blanket.
Speaker 2:I like something heavy on me. You know? Getting into some, just very chill activities, watching watching Survivor, watching the some HBO show, just kinda winding down. Maybe I have a treat. That sounds pretty good.
Speaker 2:Very cozy.
Speaker 1:I've had that answer before where some someone says, like, oh, like, maybe, like, a nice treat. Like, I'm just like, I love that. In terms of, like, it's the end of the day and it's like, you deserve a treat.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Big in a treat culture.
Speaker 1:Cool. Where can people find you if they, if they love the poetry and they wanna read more? Just follow your work. Where can people do that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter at who is Mary boo, and my website is maribouandersondot com. And thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, Mary boo, for joining me here on Nightwater. As Mary said, you can find out more about her at maribouanderson.com. I'm sure that link is in the show notes in your podcast app if you take a gander over there. And you could probably also find a link to nightwater.email. That's where I'm at, where I'm sending late night refreshing content every week, Tuesday evening, ET time.
Speaker 1:ET time. So, E Stern Standard Time. So didn't need to say ET time. It's kinda like saying ATM machine. I apologize to you, the listener who is diligently listening to the end.
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