Poet Adrian Matejka (Credit: Polina Osherov)
By Claire Williams, Poetry Editor ~
Award-winning poet and current “Poetry Magazine“ editor Adrian Matejka visited Penn State as Fisher Family Writer-in-Residence during the week of March 20, and KLIO staffers thought this would be a great occasion to share the music that inspired some of Matejka’s recent poems.
Adrian Matejka’s latest collection, “Somebody Else Sold the World,” draws heavily on experiences from lockdown early in the pandemic, most notably the music he immersed himself in during all those hours stuck in the house. As Matejka is a former DJ, it is unsurprising to find that many of the works in this book were influenced by specific songs and other works of art, many of which are acknowledged in the notes section.
The KLIO staff has compiled a Spotify playlist with many of those attributed songs in the corresponding order with which they appear in the collection.
To hear Matejka read poems from “Somebody Else Sold the World,” join us tonight (3/23) at Foster Auditorium in Pattee Library at 6 p.m. for a reading and Q&A.
A few poems from “Somebody Else Sold the World“ to read while listening: