Episode 22: Aaron Abeyta on small town life during the pandemic

Could a book really save a life? Poet Aaron Abeyta is living proof. In this episode of Emerging Form, part of our miniseries about creativity and COVID-19, we talk with him about how Truman Capote helped transform him from trying to get kicked out of school to being the MFA Poetry Director at Western Colorado University. We also talk about his work as mayor in Antonito, Colorado, and how the pandemic is affecting the small town. We talk about his goal to give voice to others who don’t have one, how Pablo Neruda inspired him to be both poetic and political, and how a story from the Bible has helped guide him in the most difficult times. Show notes:  Aaron AbeytaIn Cold Blood by Truman CapotePablo NerudaAntonito, Coloradountitled or breathing in a time of covid--aaron a. abeytadust veils the valley like dust in springevery day windevery day this place a personificationof ache aching that is a fallingfrom this horizon into anotherpoverty does not create characterthis   the myth of some falselying book whose mirrors do notshine back at us nor for usin a denver hospital Robert Limon cleavesat life this breath then anotherbreath     his lonely isolationthe machine a dire metronomeperhaps one day   we willall point back to this isolationthe aloneness that wrought this lineor that line into air   and by airi mean human hearts   this is a prayerfor change for life and breathfor loved ones to recover   to breathewithout laboring or without thoughti am reading Auden   cross of the momenthe does not include in his collected the linewe must love one another or die the poemabsent altogether this windisn’t a lie   what seems broken   islies are less expensivethan anything we have saved  here among our hats and buttons  gathered then shelved toward what weknow will always come for us  we survive   our ancestors have made it sotheir voices   you hear them toothey ring of fidelity   liveendure be    persist returnbreathe yes fill your lungslet the wind breathe may dustswing from cottonwoods to waterto meadow   may we belifted from our veils   all of themlet   too   the brokenthose walking toward homein their swollen and inebriated daymay they   too here in this isolationserve as an aspect of truthwhy did he write these lineshe wrote them in isolationin the days where the dead multipliedbeyond the wars of books and storythe dead   the dying the swollenthe broken and the barely breathingthey are a form of truth   the livingache of this place   yesthe wind too brief breathsthat fluttered then flewas if being alone was abreath which formed itself  out of our requisite and stored faithinto song This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe