Rachel Levitsky, Phil Cordelli and Mathias Svalina reading

Rachel Levitsky, Phil Cordelli and Mathias Svalina will be reading at Pete’s Candy Store as part of their Multifarious Array Reading Series.Rachel Levitsky’s second book, Neighbor, is published by Ugly Duckling Presse (2009). Levitsky’s first full length volume, Under the Sun was published by Futurepoem books. Levitsky writes poetry plays, three of which (one with Camille Roy) have been performed in New York and San Francisco. In 1999, Levitsky founded Belladonna Series (belladonnaseries.org) as a means to amplify the hushed existence of the feminist avant garde practice of writing.Phil Cordelli is or has been a poet, editor, translator (amateur), filmmaker, painter, farmer, gardener, teacher, carpet cleaner, dishwasher, waiter, surveyor (one who passes out surveys), Marine (by mistake), marine biologist (also by mistake), courier, activist (for one day), and probably a few other things along the way. He currently resides in the hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. He is the author of New Wave (Blazevox e-book, 2008); Book of Letters/Book of Numbers (Agnes Fox, 2010); and is, along with Brandon Shimoda, The Pines.Mathias Svalina lives in Denver, Colorado where he co-edits Octopus Books and is the author of two books, Destruction Myth and I Am a Very Productive Entrepreneur, as well as numerous chapbooks. I sought out Mathias for this interview because his books make so much radical, interesting noise (Destruction Myth and IAAVPE are two of the most distinct and exciting books of the last couple years), while he, as a poet, as a dude you might see at AWP or in the grocery store, seems to make so little noise (though I have never seen Mathias in a grocery store). His poems are uncompromising, tender, expansive, and dominated by the kind of incongruity that makes you want to take pictures of trash and weird light. We spent our time talking about mistakes, personal pantheons, collaboration, Octopus, and death metal versus Schubert.