On May 5th, 2020 Catamaran hosted a virtual “Lit Chat” reading with poet Frank Paino to talk about his newly released poetry collection titled Obscura. Frank reads from his book and discusses the poems and his process with Catamaran poetry editor Zack Rogow. After the reading Frank answers questions from the audience. Enjoy listening to the Lit Chat on the podcast link below
ABOUT THE BOOK In his long-anticipated third poetry collection, Frank Paino sheds his singular light on the most obscure corners of history and human nature, assembling a hagiography of unorthodox saints. Paino’s poems teach us to look deeply at the unsettling realities from which we instinctually look away—and they show us the rich rewards of beauty and wisdom we can gain by doing so.
PRAISE FOR OBSCURA This work, with a fetish-like attention to detail, enters the chambers of history we often avoid, stepping into skins both human and beast. Paino’s fascinations sift the wreckage out of grief, desperate to find a way we can all rightly live with so much loss. Because, reader, be warned: within these pages is no typical lyric meditation on how our bodies are destroyed or what becomes of them after their end. No, this is a book unlike anything else being written today. You won’t be likely to forget what you encounter here. To quote [Paino]’s description of an exquisitely beautiful photograph of a suicide victim who fell to her death: Once you’ve seen it, you’ll be "powerless to turn away." —Nickole Brown, from the foreword
Frank Paino's first two volumes of poetry were published by Cleveland State University Press: The Rapture of Matter (1991) and Out of Eden (1997). He has received a number of awards for his work, including a 2016 Individual Excellence Award from The Ohio Arts Council, a Pushcart Prize, and The Cleveland Arts Prize in Literature. His poems have appeared in Antioch Review, Catamaran, Crazyhorse, The Gettysburg Review, Green Mountains Review, The Kenyon Review, North American Review, Prairie Schooner, Quarterly West, and World Literature Today, among other places.
Zack Rogow is the author, editor, or translator of more than twenty books or plays. His most recent book of poems, Irreverent Litanies, was published in 2019 by Regal House. Rogow’s other books of poetry include Talking with the Radio: poems inspired by jazz and popular music and The Number Before Infinity. His poems have appeared in a variety of magazines, from the American Poetry Review to ZYZZYVA. He is the editor of an anthology of U.S. poetry, The Face of Poetry (University of California Press, 2005), which was the culmination of his nine years presenting national poets at the Lunch Poems Reading Series at the University of California, Berkeley.