Max Porter: …. And so, out of this all—and indeed some of my dreams at that time—came this figure of the mole. So, I read this piece to Steve and his students called “The Myth of the Mole.”
S.J. Fowler: And as is often the case at readings, I wasn’t really listening to Max [laughs]. Though, what he read was very charismatic and extraordinary. But I spent, actually, the time he was reading not only listening but also writing. Which I know a lot of people do who are writers when they go to literary events.
Lindsay Garbutt: Fowler then sent Porter the writing.
….
Christina Pugh: Yeah, there’s so much fun to be had in listening to this piece. As you were just saying, to hear S.J. Fowler and Max Porter really dialoguing together. And, that’s something interesting that you get from the recording. You know, on the page, it looks like one poem—one monologic poem. But, it’s interesting, too. I think part of what makes it fascinating and fun is this idea that there is a kind of suggestion of storytelling, there’s a once upon a time that then gets frustrated by all the internal rhyme that makes the mole, as you’re trying to get a grip on it, turn into things like holes and voles. And, you know, the idea that the mole, as an entity, is just so slippery, the way myth is…..
