… For a long time I wanted to record Scott Hightower reading from his newest book, Imperative to Spare. I’d heard Scott read elegies written for his partner of forty years, Dr. José Fernandez, who collapsed and died in his arms on the sidewalk right outside their home on the way to work on a…
Last Saturday, when I attended a poetry reading at the Jefferson Market Library, I recorded the whole thing. My friend, the teacher and poet, Scott Hightower, had curated it and did the introductions as well. The poets, Skye Jackson, author of A Faster Grave, Daniel W.K. Lee, author of Anatomy of Want, Nicole Greaves,…
“One of the marvels of the world is the sight of a soul in prison holding the keys in its hand.” Rumi The poet Scott Hightower learned that Life goes on after his partner of forty-one years suddenly died of a heart attack in his arms on the sidewalk in front of their building….
A few months ago, via email, Scott Hightower sent me his poem, “The Young Man Holding an Empty Glass,” accompanied by a nineteenth century painting and his translation in Spanish. Last week in the mail—or was it two weeks ago?—Ron Kolm sent me his poem, “Death is a Soldier,” with a painting by Karen Neuman….
… Scott Hightower’s Self-evident, published in 2012 by Barrow Street Press, is a book of fifty poems in three sections: Infant Gods, Brújula (Rose of Exile, and Self-evident, which are often departures from a point in time through the medium of a painting, or a song, or a person in the span of the last…
… I went over to Scott’s penthouse on 23rd Street a few weeks ago to record him reading some poems from a book of his that I like, Part of the Bargain. I thought for a minute to record on the terrace, but it was a busy day outside. From time to time we could…
