TDO Interview: Philip Schultz

John speaks with the poet and memoirist Philip Shultz about Phil's experiences with the shitbird, getting into the Iowa Writer's Workshop, founding NYU's first creative writing program, and the humor and sadness of existence and whatnot. Check out the conversation John and Rachael Tillman had about Phil's memoir, The Comforts of the Abyss: The Art of Persona Writing,, back on episode 560 of the podcast: (https://thedrunkenodyssey.com/2023/01...) From W. W. Norton and Company: Philip Schultz is famous for his empathetic explorations of male shortcomings, primarily those of his late father. Enormous Morning, his incisive new volume, reflects on the sacrifices of women in their roles as mothers, wives and friends, including those of his own mother, who was forced to support the family in the face of his father’s financial ruin. The collection ends with a long poem, “Something and Nothing,” that pays homage to the Arshile Gorky painting The Artist and His Mother. But the poems are also political in scope. Schultz weaves these personal stories into the broader tapestry of our political moment, reflecting on the fragility of democracy, including the January 6 insurrection, and those who are willing to sacrifice themselves to preserve it. Intimate, vulnerable and inviting, Enormous Morning cements Schultz as our greatest chronicler of compassion.