Title:Poet's Wordplay Leads To MacArthur 'Genius' Award Source:All Things Considered. (Sept.

22, 2009): From Literature Resource Center. Document Type:Audio file, Broadcast transcript Bookmark:Bookmark this Document Full Text: All Things Considered(r) Copyright 2007 NPR. All Rights Reserve d. For permission to use NPR Content, see http://www.npr.org/about/permissioninf o.html Full Text: To listen to this broadcast, click here: Play audio ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Poet Heather McHugh is also a recipient of the $500,000 MacArthur Genius Grant, and we reached her in Victoria British Columbia. Congratulations on the MacArthur Grant. Ms. HEATHER McHUGH (Poet): Thank you. SIEGEL: What are you going to with this grant? How will it change your work life ? Ms. McHUGH: I've been teaching for 33 years and to learn to teach is to learn to pay attention to the work of others, and I've been doing that pretty ardently t hese many years, taking now and then a leave of absence. I will take a bigger le ave of absence if I can. I need to get back to my own work. I don't have many mo re moons to do it. SIEGEL: Well, by my count, you're only 61, by my counts you have a few more moon s left. Ms. McHUGH: How many moons? SIEGEL: Are there ambitions for writing, that you have things that you would wan t to have the time to write in particular that this might permit you to write? Ms. McHUGH: Well, you know, there are experiments I've always wanted to do and h aven't had the leisure to do. I've often wanted to experiment with mediations of various kinds. I love to take the human voice and do strange things to it on ta pe, among other things. I'm really interested in looking at letter formations al most as matter and also similarly in addressing sound as matter. My sister, in our bedrooms, in Virginia used to speak very slowly till the grain s of the voice were like gravel. And I love the thought of really slowing down s peech or speeding it up and just studying verbal matter that way. SIEGEL: Well, I wonder if you could read a poem for us, and I believe one that y ou selected was "Domestique." Ms. McHUGH: "Domestique," but lest you get any altitudinous notions about its Fr enchification or a poet's daily life. I'll just mention that it's a bagatelle si nce you guys consider all things. "Domestique." Surfaces to scrape or wipe, a screwdriver to be applied to slime-encrusted soles , the spattered hallways, wadded bedding and, in quantities astounding - in the corners, under furniture, behind the curtains - fluff and dander spread by curs, the breeder called non-shedding. It's a dog's life I myself must lead, day in, day out with never a Sunday edition while they lie around on their couches like poets, and study the human condition. Such is the domestic life.

SIEGEL: Yeah, I was wondering if the grant will permit you to hire more cleaning help at home. (Soundbite of laughter) Ms. McHUGH: How I yearn. Perhaps. It's hard for me to prepare for people to come to clean. I mean I have to clean before they come. So... (Soundbite of laughter) Ms. McHUGH: So, it's a kind of - a sort of worried-ness. I mean I was worried wh en I heard about this prize. I was also astounded and dumbfounded and flummoxed and flabbergasted, thunderstruck and stupefied, especially stupefied, the brains went right out of my head. But I was worried instantly because that's partly my way of taking care of things and partly because as General Stilwell said, the h igher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind. (Soundbite of laughter) SIEGEL: You're concerned about the possible exposure from this, you're saying? Ms. McHUGH: Exactly. That's the noun exactly. SIEGEL: Heather McHugh, once again, congratulations on the MacArthur Grant and t hanks for talking with us. Ms. McHUGH: Thank you. Kindly take care. SIEGEL: Heather McHugh is one of two dozen MacArthur Foundation Fellows for 2009 . They'll each receive a no-strings-attached grant of half a million dollars and you can find a complete list of all the winners at npr.org. (Soundbite of music) MADELEINE BRAND, host: This is NPR, National Public Radio.