Dessa Reading on JoCo Cruise 2022
Channel: Angela Brett
Date: 30/03/2022

This is Dessa's reading from the Monday of JoCo Cruise 2022: https://jococruise2022.sched.com/event/xX9J/reading-dessa

She had performed at the main concert the night before: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ-l6mr1dW0gK5si1lXpVDSBZqfedxlYI

Dessa starts her poetry reading with some haiku. She then warns us that there are some bad words. She reads poetry and prose about contact lenses, spambots, forgiveness, face painting, touring, [redacted], power sockets, and disaster at sea. 

She fields questions about capturing her thoughts, metaphors, Kai Ryssdal and “Who’s Yellen Now”, the song she wrote about secretary of the treasury Janet Yellen, the relationship between writing and music and which form to put a given piece in, the temporal dial, writing advice, and inspiration for becoming herself. Then she makes a video to say hi to someone named Carly. She then answers questions about knowing when a piece is done (in all the genres!), physical movement on stage, and finding the courage to be vulnerable. She finishes the reading with a poem about how to stage dive.