Ariana Reines Interview: The Impulse of Poetry

Meet American poet Ariana Reines, who has been described as one of the crucial voices of her generation. In this video, she talks openly about how extreme familial circumstances “pushed” her into poetry, and how writing lets you enter the deepest levels of experience.

“You can’t be closed in literature – it opens you. And so, it’s a way of entering a space where you’re in very, very profound intimacy with another consciousness,” says Reines. Poetry, she continues, is a mirror that “allows you to reflect on your state.” Escaping reality isn’t an option, and getting a grip on reality means getting a grip on language: “How do you be in it and have a space that allows you to have some agency over your own consciousness, while at the same time letting in everything that’s happening?” In this, Reines feels, poetry is an essential tool.

“My body went into language, and the language came into me in this way that made it possible for me to survive. It became something that I lived on, which is insane.” Reines feels that the point when her family fell apart – when her paranoid-schizophrenic mother became homeless and she and Reines’ brother moved into her dorm room for six weeks – was a defining point for her. Literature became the only place she could go, as she had “no physical space from this catastrophe.”

Ariana Reines (b. 1982) is an award-winning American poet, playwright, performance artist, and translator. Her books of poetry include ‘The Cow’ (2006), ‘Coeur de Lion’ (2007), ‘Mercury’ (2011), ‘Thursday’ (2012) and ‘A Sand Book’ (2019). She is also the author of the Obie-winning play ‘Telephone’ (2009). Reines participated in the 2014 Whitney Biennial as a member of Semiotext(e) and has created performances and art projects for the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim and more.

Ariana Reines was interviewed by Christian Lund in October 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Camera: Miguel de Zuviría & Nicanor Montes
Sound: Tomás Guiñazú
Produced by: Christian Lund
Edited by: Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2019

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[Tatorotarot]

Whoa who is this person breaking me open just by existing and creating ❤

[sambsonwayfinder]

"It's a way of entering a space where you're in very, very profound intimacy with another consciousness. Writing is an extremely, extremely intimate Art; as anyone knows who's ever loved a book. Of course, reading is not the only artform out there... but if you really, really wanna get down deep into a person, it's the only way; and there isn't really anything like it. To get into the deepest levels of experience that we have; it comes from deep inside people. So, that is a joy that will open you instead of close you.
There's so much... there's so much happening that's pouring into us every second, through all kinds of channels. So much of it is cacophonous and highly disturbing... and has a kind of damaging effect on the brain... it sort of harms the imagination sometimes; it's stupefying - just metabolizing reality. A lot of people are freaking out, as a result. And some of the people look crazy, and some of them look sane - but they're not; and we all know that. We all know that.
So, what's interesting about poetry, is that it's something everyone can practice. It's a mirror; it allows you to reflect on your state. And sometimes things come through that mirror that are really unusual. I think that there's also, in every second, miracles happening... and we don't perceive them, for the most part. I think we need... we need this connection in order to survive. It's not just a matter of physical survival, we have to to survive creatively, if we're going to be able to manage any of this. You can't just escape reality. That's never worked. It didn't work 5, 000 years ago; it's not gonna work now. We have to be in this reality. So, how do you be in it and have a space that allows you to have some agency over your own consciousness; while at the same time, letting in everything that is happening?
For me, poetry, with it's line breaks and it's way of putting some air and space around things that are coming in from outside - things that are coming up from inside; that... is a really amazing technology. And it has no carbon footprint."

[jerry-mind-sky]

in era of feminism and high body count this woman is angel.