{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/5f42a942de45bf4fbe3a9c44/6a15604bcb11d38a8bac03bb?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Deconstruction by Mary Ruefle","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/5f42a942de45bf4fbe3a9c44/1779783218595-d2457f5f-62ed-4f88-b7b9-4450d877ca9b.jpeg?height=200","description":"<p>Welcome back to <strong>Words That Burn</strong>, the podcast taking a closer look at poetry. In this episode, host Benjamin Collopy offers a close reading of Mary Ruefle’s four-line masterpiece, “Deconstruction.”</p><p>This brief but devastating poem masterfully bridges ancient myth with the unbearable weight of modern existence. Benjamin situates Ruefle as a master storyteller and meticulous \"sentence maker,\" breaking down how four short lines can bend time, space, and human memory.</p><p><br></p><h4>In This Episode, We Explore:</h4><ul><li><strong>The Sirens &amp; The Metatextual Turn:</strong> How Ruefle uses Homer’s <em>The Odyssey</em> to force us to look inward. The poem presents a brilliant metatextual idea: that the Sirens actually sang <em>The Odyssey</em> itself, seducing listeners with the terrible, irresistible story of their own lives. We explore how the poem’s subtle shift from “I” to “we” invites shared introspection about how we remember, retell, and mythologise ourselves.</li><li><strong>Erasure vs. Found Poetry:</strong> Using Ruefle's own remarks, we distinguish her specific practice of erasure (or blackout) poetry from standard found poetry, highlighting the intent and precision required to carve a poem out of an existing text.</li><li><strong>Erasure as Survival:</strong> We connect \"Deconstruction\" to Ruefle’s broader lectures on reading, memory, and survival. Discover why picking apart existing texts isn't just an artistic choice, but a vital coping mechanism for processing life’s overwhelming excess.</li></ul><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><a href=\"https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/08/12/erasure-notebooks/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Mary Ruefle's Erasure Notebooks</a></p><p><br></p><h3>Follow the Podcast:</h3><p><br></p><p><a href=\"https://open.substack.com/pub/wordsthatburn/p/deconstruction-by-mary-ruefle?r=th4eb&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Read the Script on Substack</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wordsthatburnpodcast/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Follow the Podcast On Instagram</a></p><p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/wordsthatburn\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Follow the Podcast on X/Twitter</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@wordsthatburn2?lang=en\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Follow the Podcast on Tiktok</a></p><p><a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/wordsthatburn.bsky.social\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Follow the podcast on Bluesky</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>The Music In This Week's Episode:</strong></p><p>'Memories Of Stone' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Time Stamps:</strong></p><p>00:00 Sirens and Self Story</p><p>00:27 Why This Poem</p><p>01:28 Mary Ruefle's Style</p><p>03:02 Erasure Poetry Explained</p><p>04:53 Reading the Poem</p><p>05:43 Metatext and Reading</p><p>06:50 Sirens in The Odyssey</p><p>08:21 Erasure as Survival</p><p>11:22 Title Does the Work</p><p>12:47 Why It Stays With Us</p><p><br></p>","author_name":"Benjamin Collopy"}