Think Music: Amit Majmudar

Amit Majmudar, author of the poetry collection  0º, 0º (TriQuarterly Books, 2009), and a novel, Partitions,(Macmillan 2011) is a diagnostic radiologist, and he’s here with us this week to talk about his Think Music. “Earshot”: A Riff I love music, but not when I’m writing. In fact, I write with gigantic earmuffs on, the kind…

Think Music: Paul Lisicky

Today’s Think Music guest is Paul Lisicky, author of Lawnboy and Famous Builder. CHORDS OF INQUIRY I could hear a song, say a pop song on the radio, go home and play my version of it on the piano.  This was when I was in second grade, before I started taking piano lessons.  I couldn’t…

Think Music: Kazim Ali

Today’s Think Music guest is Kazim Ali, author of The Far Mosque (Alice James Books) and The Fortieth Day (BOA Editions, 2008). Dear Alice, Dear Coltrane When in January 2007 I was walking along the fog-beaches of Santa Cruz, looking down over the banister to the red rocks below, I wondered. Wondered as I walked…

Think Music: Steven Beeber on Captain Beefheart

Steven Beeber, the author of The Heebie Jeebie’s at CBGB’s: A Secret History of Jewish Punk, and associate editor of Conduit, pays tribute to Captain Beefheart in this week’s Think Music column. I’ll never forget the first time. I was lying on my bed, trying to write, coming up with lines like “I bite off…

Think Music: Dorianne Laux

This week’s Think Music columnist is poet Dorianne Laux, the author of Facts about the Moon and The Book of Men (W.W. Norton). She teaches poetry at NC State University in Raleigh. I find it difficult to listen to music while writing, especially if there are lyrics involved.  It distracts me from the silence, and…

Think Music: Joel Lipman

Poet Joel Lipman is this week’s guest columnist on Think Music. What’s In the Background The essential journal notes and sketches leading to the composition of “Sweet Home Chicago,” a long poem of some 500 lines published sectionally and in its entirety by a number of periodical editions and chapbooks by small presses [Quixote, The…

THINK MUSIC: Gabrielle Calvocoressi

Today we return to our “Think Music” series, in which writers speak about the influence of music on their work. Today’s guest is Gabrielle Calvocoressi, who is a 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist in poetry for her second book, Apocalyptic Swing. Her fellow finalists are Amy Gerstler, Tom Healy, Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, and…

THINK MUSIC: Mary Biddinger,Tyehimba Jess and Karyna McGlynn

Mary Biddinger: My earlier years of writing were fueled by classic rock and jug wine, hours spent lying in front of the stereo gazing at the ceiling fan and ruminating. I listened to my walkman on the bus and stared out at piles of dirty snow, jotting down lines to add to a poem later….

THINK MUSIC: Listening with Aaron Belz, Jericho Brown, and Robert Wrigley

Welcome to our new column, “Think Music,” conceived of by Adam Day, in which writers tell us about the role music plays in their writing process. We’ve adopted the title from Aaron Belz’s piece below.  We hope you’ll find this as fascinating as we do, and that you’ll come back for next week’s edition featuring…