[cgaver]

Tim,

Congratulations on your book, your nomination and your upcoming radio interview. Two questions for you --

1) Hearing the voice of poetry seems like such an important and lacking aspect in our ironically very connectable world. I've read well-know poems on radio before on two Pacifica stations, and I enjoy Garrison Keillor's nod our way with the "Writer's Almanac," but otherwise, sadly, there seems to be a "disconnect" between the writing and radio communities in this regard.

How do you think we can begin again to introduce the idea of reading poetry and fiction to a radio audience? And do you think the Internet will eventually lend itself more to this end? There are, of course, the MP3 and Real Player downloads of the greats reading their stuff available through The Atlantic, for example. But these all feel like non-sequitur experiences. Maybe I just have this wild and unattainable dream of being able to have great poetry read to me 24 hours a day on a NetRadio program...or at least hear it "live" as I drive along a dark highway.

2)On another note, I responded to one of Nigel's poems this morning, a poem which introduces an Arabic word. In your experience, what languages (or language) have you encountered that are most easily and naturally lyrical?

Cheers,
Cynthia