Eileen Myles: Naming it all, Naming everything
I think that poetry has a very intimate, corrosive and splendid relationship with power.
- Eileen Myles
Eileen Myles is an American poet and writer who has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. Here they read the poem “London Exchange” from their book I Must Be Living Twice.
I had heard of Eileen Myles's name a couple of times before I met them at the 2016 Miami Book Fair, where they presented I Must Be Living Twice. I copied their name into a notebook, which I often do as part of my search for poets for The Nude Maja.
Lisa Palley from the Miami Book Fair told me that Eileen Myles might not give an interview, only a recital, but in the end, I was lucky and they agreed to an interview for the radio program I host. Myles arrived dragging everything around with them almost at astral speed. They conducted themself quickly, their gaze, gestures, voice and the way they read their poems were like the wind.
I was worried because whoever was going to help me with a camera never came and I had to use my iPhone, not the latest version by the way. However, everything went well. Among other things, Myles told me that the elections were stolen in the United States. They had supported Hillary Clinton, who had just lost the elections: "Right now in this country we are experiencing a traumatic moment of collective discouragement, I frankly believe that the elections were stolen.”
Eileen Myles is closely linked to the TV series "Transparent" the story of an American family that discovers that their father is a trans woman. In "Transparent" there is a poet inspired by Eileen Myles, who also appears in one of the episodes. Several of their poems are read in this series.
Eileen Myles defines theirself as a poet, punk, lesbian. They are recognized as one of the most brilliant and expansive minds in contemporary American Literature. Myles was born in Cambridge and moved to NY in the 70s “to be a poet”, according to their own words.
Today they have a solid body of poetic work. Two editors in our Mercurius family - Mariana Lemos and Marcus Slease - told me they were "fans" of Eileen Myles. So I dedicate this recording of their poem “London Exchange” to them.