Podcast Episode Details

e88 robin mathews – on radical listening & political poetry

Season 3 Episode 88

• 'I don't know how many people in Canada who would immediately understand what radical listening is, because it would occur to me that the listener would have to be sensitized beforehand in order to listen radically, so that the radical listening is a secondary function of becoming radicalized in a political matter or political level. Radical listening is at one level, isn't it, one listens in repose. One listens in usually undefended state of mind and so radical listening would be post action listening or preparatory to action.'

Robin Mathews, Vancouver, 2021

This is a special edition of the conscient podcast. You’ll hear two recordings that I did with my father in the law, the poet and educator Robin Mathews. I did not narrate his extensive biography however there are some links in the episode notes below for you to learn more about his distinguished career as a writer and activist. 

The first recording is from just a few days in Vancouver, where I ask him to help me understand the origins of the term radical and also the notion of radical listening, which is the theme of this 3rd season. The second recording is from 17 years ago, in 2004 which was a series of conversation I had with Robin about political poetry and the role of the artist in society. I thought I would bring these two conversations together in this episode.

You’ll also hear him read three of his poems. The first is at the Café Lenin from his Think Freedom book of poetry published in 2004 by Northland Publications.  The second is The Lady From Iraq, written in 1991. The third is from this year, called Unmarked Graves. 

In particular I like this quote from our 2004 conversation about the role of the artists in society:

It doesn't do to dictate about the artist, because artists are as various as it is possible to be. A great many artists can only have their being in withdrawal and insularity, retreat and silence and so to call upon them to be social activists would be wounding and maybe destructive but in the large picture of the artist in the society, even the artists that I have described, must in himself or herself, recognize that to be artists is a special function and a special blessing and in response to it, the artist must take responsibility for the nature of the society in which he or she lives. And that's asking a great deal, but I don't think it's asking too much.

I want thank Robin for sharing his deep knowledge of arts and culture and his passion for poetry and literature. I also thank him for being a generous and supportive father-in-law to me and a loving grandfather to our children. Though she does not appear in this episode, I also recognize the work and wisdom of Esther Mathews as an activist and cultural worker.

Poems narrated in this episode

at the Café Lenin (2004)

We'll meet at the Café Lenin. 

when the midnight hour has toiled.

We'll drink to the hopes, the past held dear

on a planet grown tragically old 

We'll mourn the loss of the ozone, 

the oceans depleted of fish; we’ll remember the songs that were sung by the frogs,

we’ll remember and wonder and wish 

We'll sit in the Café Lenin 

with its decor of scarlet and black 

mourning the million's gone down to their grave

so the markets can stay ‘on track’. 

We'll drink to the men and the women 

who fight for the Good and the Just

and are torn from hope and human love 

by Imperial greed and lust. 

We'll praise all revolutions – 

no matter how poor or small – 

where the weak and the tortured fight to break free 

of Capital's murdering thrall. 

We'll meet at the Café Lenin 

in the darkness and dead of ou

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Published on 4 years ago