Rattlecast #64 features David Mason, who has two poems in the current issue of Rattle. He'll being reading from his book of new and selected poems, The Sound, as well as a forthcoming manuscript, Pacific Light.

David Mason’s books of poems include The Buried Houses (winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize), The Country I Remember (winner of the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award), and Arrivals. His verse novel, Ludlow, was published in 2007 and named best poetry book of the year by the Contemporary Poetry Review and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. It was also featured on the PBS News Hour. Author of a collection of essays, The Poetry of Life and the Life of Poetry, his memoir, News from the Village, appeared in 2010. A new collection of essays, Two Minds of a Western Poet, followed in 2011. Mason has also co-edited several textbooks and anthologies, including Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry, Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism, Twentieth Century American Poetry, and Twentieth Century American Poetics: Poets on the Art of Poetry. A former Fulbright Fellow to Greece, he served as Poet Laureate of Colorado (2010–14) and now lives in Tanzania, Australia.

As always, we'll also include live open mic for responses to our weekly prompt. For details on how to participate, either via Skype or by phone, go to: https://www.rattle.com/rattlecast/

This Week's Prompt:

Write a poem exploring the motivations of a mythological creature (vampire, unicorn, dragon, etc.).

Next Week's Prompt:

Write a concrete poem (a poem that takes a particular shape on the page). The content of the poem should have a connection to the shape.

The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Periscope, then becomes an audio podcast.