Poeti alla radio

Il Guardian si occupa della poesia alla radio (in particolare la BBC) in due recenti articoli, uno dei quali dedicato a un volume appena commissionato alla poetessa Wendy Cope, alla quale la BBC ha richiesto un peculiare acrostico di brevi epigrammi dedicati alla radio, The ABC of the BBC. L'opera ricalca un analogo volume che la BBC fece scrivere nel 1928 a un'altra poetessa, Eleanor Farjaon. La scrittrice, riferisce il Guardian, propone un misto di apprezzamenti e critiche all'ente radiofonico pubblico. Sotto la lettera U (sarebbe la nostra I di "Insopportabile"), l'epigramma intitolato Unbearable commenta aspramente certi toni, certi istrionismi e la sgrammaticatura di alcuni annunciatori:

Talk of scary medical conditions,
Clichés from the mouths of politicians,
Interviewers whose self-righteous tone
Suggests they have the right to cast a stone,
Too much aggression early in the day
(Just press a switch and it will go away),
Reporters whose command of English grammar
Deserves a beta minus or a gamma,
Comedians making unkind jokes about
A person's looks. No thank you. Count me out.
Actors being actorish, and worse,
The voice of Dylan Thomas reading verse.

Molto bello, tra i blog del Guardian, il post di Shirely Dent a proposito di The ethereal world of radio poetry. La Dent segnala per esempio il programma di BBC Radio 3 dedicato al processo per tradimento subito dal poeta Ezra Pound (ne abbiamo parlato recentemente). Il procedimento non fu mai celebrato fino in fondo per infermità mentale dello scrittore, accusato inizialmente di tradimento anche per i suoi infuocati discorsi anti-semiti e anti-capitalisti da Radio Roma. Mi sono procurato il libro che raccoglie i testi di questi discorsi, così come sono stati trascritti dalla postazione di ascolto della FCC e con le correzioni basate sugli script originali, molto interessante. Pound ebbe una lunga relazione artistica con la radio, mezzo per cui compose anche delle opere musicali. Solo fino a domani potrete ancora ascoltare The Trial of Ezra Pound grazie al BBC iPlayer (qui c'è la griglia dei programmi di domenica 20 luglio, online fino a domenica 27, andate alla voce prevista per le 9.30pm)

Sunday Feature – Ideas: The Trial Of Ezra Pound
Sunday 20 July
9.30-10.15pm BBC RADIO 3

During the Second World War, Ezra Pound, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century and a founder of modernism, made a series of vituperative and anti-Semitic radio broadcasts in Italy, criticising American imperialism and involvement in the conflict. At the end of the war, Pound, who was 60, was incarcerated in a small cage in Pisa before being flown home to stand trial. His broadcasts, the prosecution in Washington alleged, gave "aid and comfort to the enemy", thus committing treason. Pound was judged unfit to stand trial and consigned to St Elizabeth's Hospital for almost 13 years. While in prison he wrote the Pisan Cantos on scraps of paper, winning the Bollingen-Library of Congress Prize in 1949 for the best poetry by an American citizen, an award that caused outrage. Following the intervention of writers including TS Eliot, Ernest Hemingway and, more reluctantly, Robert Frost, Pound was released and returned to Italy where he remained until his death in 1972.
Poet and historian Sean Street presents this investigation into Pound which questions whether he committed treason or if he inconveniently used his right to free speech.
Sean listens to Pound's broadcasts, explanations of his thinking and poems recorded on his release and considers whether there are contemporary parallels – the incarceration by the state without due legal process of those it wishes out of the way.
Contributors include Pound's daughter, Mary de Rachewlitz; his biographer David Moody; Helen Dennis, who has edited essays on his work; and Jewish playwright Bernard Kops who wrote a play about Pound in his cage.