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Object Impermanence

Map the territory of trauma and survival with poet H. K. Hummel.

On this episode, we speak with Hummel about her 2020 collection Lessons in Breathing Underwater, published by Sundress Publications. Faced with her own battle for survival after childbirth, these poems attempt to understand personal catastrophe by sharing memories of her own recovery in parallel with historical and mythological women who have faced insurmountable challenges.

Poet H.K. Hummel

Published by Sundress Publications. Cover art by Kristen Ton.
Electronica artist Empielle
"Everything Goes Deeper Than You Expect"

You find yourself on life support, and you have no recollection of how you got here.

Strangers have fallen in love with you, fought for you, while you slept. People look you in the eyes and say,
Do you recognize me? You want to, good God, you want to. They rescued you, bathed you, waited for you.
Come back. Become yourself again. Stay still while they remove the ventilator, the oxygen, the feeding tube, the catheter and the PICC line.
If you’re lucky, your father holds your hand, your mother brushes your hair, your spouse helps you stand again.
The nurse asks, Have you even been drunk? This is what it will be like. Life your chin. Look at the horizon.
Recall what exists beyond these walls: the gorgeously ordinary river city, the elegant regularity of bus schedules, kingfishers plunging into the muddy channel.

H.K. Hummel is the author of Lessons in Breathing Underwater and the co-author of Short-Form Creative Writing: A Writer's Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2018).

She is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, one of the founding editors of Blood Orange Review, and director of Atelier, a creative editing studio.

She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Southern Maine and an MA in literature from Eastern Washington University.

Her poems have recently appeared in Hudson Review, Museum of Americana, Booth, Terrain.org, and Iron Horse Review

Music for this episode was created by Little Rock electronica artist Empielle. 

mid-century_doom.mp3
Listen to the song "Mid-century Doom" by Empielle

Thank you to Stickyz Rock “N" Roll Chicken Shack for keeping music alive and well in Arkansas.

Generous funding for the 2019-2020 season was provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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Contact Arts & Letters Radio at artsletters@kuar.org or via phone at 501-569-8485.  Our mailing address is:  Arts & Letters Radio |  KUAR 89.1  | 5820 Asher Avenue, Suite 400  | Little Rock, AR   72204.

Executive Producer & Host: J. Bradley Minnick

Producer & Story Editor: Mary Ellen Kubit

 
 
Sound Mastering: Simon Sound Studio

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