Jack Spicer Mary Norbert Körte 1965 Berkeley Poetry Conference
When I visited Mary Norbert Körte in October of 2019, we recorded interviews on consecutive days. On the second day we talked, among other things, about the chapbook put together by the City University of New York’s Lost & Found program featuring her responses to all of Michael McClure’s Ghost Tantras. She was pretty blown away that she was finally getting some recognition in her 80s. It was a joy to unveil that to her, even in galley form. Hear her talk about her life, her work with local indigenous people, her reaction to old work and a couple of poems. Recorded October 25, 2019 in Willits, CA.
Addendum from Jason Weiss, 6-FEB-2023:
The late California poet Mary Norbert Korte’s new & selected poems, edited by Iris Cushing and me, Jumping into the American River, will be out within the next month. Back in mid-December, I sent info about her to many of you (my first poetry teacher, Berkeley 1970, when I was 14; ex-Dominican nun; lived 50 years in the Mendocino woods; environmental activist; died at 88 in Nov, etc). Anne Waldman’s blurb for the book, which you’ll find in the link, gives a good overview.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:06 — 79.8MB)
A delightful intellect – sensibility – these two interviews together capture her courage, child’s mind, humility – made me think about my own life differently, particularly the role of religion, and assumptions I made about organized religion vs. mysticism vs. spirituality – Joy Harjo says “we don’t need science to explain the world to us”. So I resolve to open myself – step “into” instead of “away from” –