Moon Beams #17 - Maud Lavin
“The ferocious, beautiful lake is also a hugger… what is swimming if not trading caresses and ease?”
Maud Lavin’s poem “Being Held” stills one with these words, forthright on aspects of danger and grace that she finds in her practice of swimming, and are brought to life wonderfully in her first poetry collection, Swim Lessons, available September 2nd from Tulipwood Press, courtesy of Publishing Editor Lynne Ellis and Visual Arts Editor AJ Dent.
When asked about what excites her about poetry, Maud was quick to put attention on a host of friends and other writers she sees growing their own talents, and in turn breaking new ground for the genre.
Maud made special note of friend-of-the-show Dr. Taylor Byas, “I’m excited about Taylor’s work, I just love the way she marries this formal rigor and exploration with deep feeling and some socio-political commentary, just love it.”
Among others, Maud named Sam Herschel Wein, Chen Chen, Noa Michaela Fields, Calvin Forbes, Edward Said, Faylita Hicks, Alina Stefanescu, Dipika Mukherjee, Moises Flores, and Faisal Mohyuddin as remarkable presences in the scene.
“That’s how I get excited within the scene,” said Maud, “by individual production, by individual poets, individual poems.”
Maud was also clear about how she loves the age diversity in the literary scene, turning 70 this year and Swim Lessons being her ninth book, but her first book of poetry.
She shared that though she can be the oldest person at a poetry reading, her passion keeps her showing up, and indeed, the meditative notes found in the last lines of Maud’s poem “Hanging Out” could be read as speaking to this love, as well as the seasons a life sees, and how invention and friendship can do well to fill time and space in every decade.
“My close-held hush, I grew up in the midwest, right in its small towns, small heart, its expansive corn fields, its long green summers, it taught me to love hanging out, to blow up boredom like a balloon.”
The official book launch event for Swim Lessons will be on Wednesday September 3rd at 6:30 p.m. at Printers Row Wine, 719 S. Dearborn, Tropicake will also be on hand, a Filipino-owned bakery, with special guests Tim Moder, Anne-Marie Oomen, Timothy David Rey, Andrea Change, and Tara Betts in attendance as well.
During our conversation, we also spoke to poet, activist, and professor Refaat Alareer, who was tragically slain on December 6, 2023 in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, whose YouTube series on Shakespeare is definitely worth a watch here.
