Friends, thanks very much for listening to Poetry and Bound. The Poetry and Bound book is out in loads of places around the world and it's almost out in the US on December the 6th that will be launched in the US.

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My name is Podrigotuma and as long as I've been writing and reading Poetry, there have been particular words and particular times that for a while really land with me.

You know, for a long time the word Belonging was fantastic. And then the more I got involved in working in conflict resolution, particularly between groups, I could see that belonging to a particular group can sometimes deepen the experience of conflict for anybody who isn't in that group.

Also belonging on the one hand is a draw to great connectedness, but also draw to great separation or even sectarianism.

So the word Belonging is one that I still like, but there's layers to it. And anytime I find myself loving a word, thinking, oh this is the word for the moment, these days I find myself looking for some of the edges of it.

I think, well, is this word so good for everybody and how can I find a way to explore?

Not quiet as in quiet, but by Victoria Aduquibouli.

Not quiet as in quiet, but as in peaceful, as in slow to anger, as in shy, as in sulking or soling, as in nice, as in clean, tree-lined streets, as in well-resourced libraries, as in good outstanding schools, as in

not much new, as in no news is good news, as in the war is over, has been for decades now, as in early to bed, curled up with a book, as in the newborn is sleeping, as in TV, barely audible, as in subtitles, as in subtext, as in someone should have done something, as in don't just do something,

stand there, as in code and showed, but wouldn't, as in well the British are so polite, as in placid, as in placated, as in nuanced, complicated, as in careful, it's a conflict, not a siege, a conflict, as in objective, as in both sides, as in well-resourced,

as in well-behaved, as in safe, as in too quiet, as in almost silent, as in almost no sirens,

this poem is from Victoria Attaquaboulis' first book, and that book is called Quiet, and it considers the idea and the word and the practice of quietude through a personal lens, and political lens, and social and racial and artistic and gendered lenses to what is it, like what is the word quiet, and can the word quiet mean a few things?

I remember years ago when people began to say, not funny as in ha ha, but funny as in weird, and realizing that probably different communities of people in different languages have been saying things like that for a very long time,

it's easily said these days in social media, and I love what Victoria Attaquaboulis has done here in terms of saying, not quiet as in quiet, but as the typel, and then unfolding, I think it's 31, on foldings that she does here,

and they're in, to my mind anyway, different categories, you know, the first ones are peaceful, slow to anger, shy, sulking, solemn, nice, they are complicated enough, but they're relatively ordinary, and then it moves to social, looks at the streets, and who gets a quiet, clean, tree-lined street, and who gets a library, a well-resourced one, and who gets to go to a good, outstanding school, what's the quietude about that?

And then it continues, to my mind when she says, as in subtitles, as in subtext, that's when the poem really begins to go deep into the underground of the word, quiet, someone should have done something, don't just do something stand there, so polite, placid, placated, and then there's this idea of both sides, careful it's a conflict, not a siege, objective, both sides,

the news is being explored here, certainly the word news occurs over and over again at the top of the poem, but also the response from the community, the broadcasting voice, who says what kind of quiet is good, who says what kind of quiet, or disquiet is bad?

Over and over again, this poem, not quiet, isn't quiet, but just goes down to depth, to depth, to depth, through this word, quiet.

When I think of the political lenses of the word, quiet, in this poem, the question about the news, about the war being over, for whom?

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