Mattathias Reads The World

I meet digitally with mormon poet Darlene Young to discuss The Association for Mormon Letters, our affection for Utah as native Utahns, road tripping to Berkeley, and her poem “In the Locker Room at the Temple" with all that that entails. We talk about finding Mormon literary communities, the power of having an audience to write for, and Darlene's ongoing effort to get the pulse of Lit Blitz readership.

We spend a while early in the episode reminiscing about the Berkeley Road Trip. If you don't want to hear cryptic hints about a road trip where we solved all the world's problems, skip to 19:20 in the episode to hear Darlene read her poem.  If you want to rain on our parade and tell us, like Aaron to Ammon, not to get carried away to boasting, first off, follow President Uchtdorf's advice to parade stormclouds everywhere and Stop It! Secondly, know that this podcast is a boasting-safe zone for shy, reserved people who need to be prompted a little to blow their own trumpets, kazoos, or shofars loudly, ad maiorem Dei gloriam, of course.  

And by golly, Darlene can make a beautiful song on that celestial instrument of hers! Listen to her play, and celebrate the joyful noise!

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If you'd like to read Darlene's truly excellent collection, find it here: https://bookshop.org/books/homespun-and-angel-feathers/9781948218177

To read more about it, see http://associationmormonletters.org/blog/2020/05/2019-aml-award-winners/

Jared Forsyth joins me again to discuss the Mormon pioneer legacy, some of the ways we tell the story that cheapen their experience and set impossible expectations for us as we go through our own vale of tears, and some of the ways each of us has learned to honor them better and let their lived experience nourish and direct us. We reflect on Primary songs, Sunday school, Trek experiences, and end with the powerful pioneer anthem "Let Us Go" by the Mother of Mormon poetry, Eliza R. Snow.

In this episode, I am delighted to have another repeated Lit Blitz follower and submitter Chanel Earl join me to read and discuss her short story "Three Generations of Sonder" (https://lit.mormonartist.net/2020/06/three-generations-of-sonder-by-chanel-earl/) which was one of the twelve published pieces in the 2020 Mormon Lit Blitz. We explore some of the story's beautiful and haunting images, and how they help us as readers experience sonder for ourselves-- the realization that we are not the center of the universe, that every person who has ever lived, who lives now, or who will live in the future experiences a measure of joy and pain which are equally beyond our comprehension. 

Also, we talk about the incredible gift of strawberry jam.

Those are the two most important takeaways from this episode, my friends. 

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Here is the promised link for "Behold": https://www.arch-hive.net/post/behold

And Chanel closed the episode by reading one of her past Lit Blitz submissions "I Dreamed That We Were Sister Wives": https://inscape.byu.edu/2020/05/04/i-dreamed-that-we-were-sister-wives/ 

In which I sit down (remotely) with Lit Blitz veteran and canonized Latter-day Saint poet Emily Harris Adams to read and discuss her 2020 Lit Blitz piece, "“Orpheus Sings to Mary and Martha” (https://lit.mormonartist.net/2020/06/orpheus-sings-to-mary-and-martha-by-emily-harris-adams/).

We discuss grief, love, happy endings, and the importance of being willing to wait for the right moment, and experience the sorrow that is the needed prerequisite to the finest forms of joy. I try to recite Emily's brilliant poem "Second Coming" from memory, and fail confidently. (For the full correct text, see https://lit.mormonartist.net/2012/02/day-four-emily-harris-adams/). Emily shares her experiences with the Lit Blitz community and praises several fellow finalists from over the years. Then she reveals the secrets of her spectacular success! Listen to the end for all the deets.

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To see all of Emily's past Lit Blitz pieces, see https://lit.mormonartist.net/?s=emily+harris

To follow Emily on Facebook, go to https://www.facebook.com/EmilyHarrisAdams

I have the honor of interviewing the Judge's Choice Winner of the 2020 Mormon Lit Blitz, Madi Beckstrand. She reads us her poem "Part Heaven" (https://lit.mormonartist.net/2020/06/part-heaven-by-madison-beckstrand/) and then we discuss embodied divinity in the particular form of black hair in America, which has suffered long under the oppressive yoke of externally imposed but horrifically internalized white standards of beauty. We also talk about how adoption gave her two families that she loves, what she dubs "main character syndrome" and the ways in which it can interfere in our ability to relate to others, and just how hard it can be to recognize how good one's own work is. 

There's a lot more too. This is a really really good episode, y'all. Give it a listen.

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To read Madi's full award citation and bio, go here and scroll down (or take the time to read about Cesar as well, you won't regret it): https://lit.mormonartist.net/2020/06/2020-mormon-lit-blitz-winners-audience-choice-and-judges-choice/

Jared joins us to read his Lit Blitz Piece "Airplanes that Crashed: A Book of Mormon Coloring Book" (https://lit.mormonartist.net/2020/06/airplanes-that-crashed-a-book-of-mormon-coloring-book-by-jared-forsyth/). He also shares thoughts on how the picture book is the perfect form for Nephi-style plainness of speech, references Kylie Nielsen Turley's thoughts from the Maxwell Institute Podcast on how sobering it ought to be to say that the Book of Mormon is true and really happened (https://mi.byu.edu/mip-bti-turley/) and describes how he balances his many creative endeavors, and shares exclusive sneak previews for his upcoming coloring book "Prophets of the Restoration as Described by Their Pets"