Hélène Cardona: Poetry in the Kairos- Medicine for the Soul in Dark Times

Join me in welcoming Hélène Cardona, poet, actor, translator, dream analyst, and linguist. Today's episode is a conversation and a beautiful reading from her Life in Suspension (Salmon Poetry), “a vivid self-portrait as scholar, seer and muse” as John Ashbery, tells us. Cardona is author of Dreaming My Animal Selves (Salmon Poetry), described by David Mason as “liminal, mystical and other-worldly,” adding, “this is a poet who writes in a rare light.” Hailed as visionary by Richard Wilbur, Cardona’s luminous poetry explores consciousness, the power of place,and ancestral roots. It is poetry of alchemy and healing, a gateway to the unconscious and the dream world. For today’s podcast, we look at Life In Suspension, but she has promised to be back and we will enjoy her reading from Dreaming My Animal Selves.

Hélène has authored the translations The Abduction (Maram Al-Masri, White Pine Press), Birnam Wood (José Manuel Cardona, Salmon Poetry), Beyond Elsewhere (Gabriel Arnou-Laujeac, White Pine Press), Ce que nous portons (Dorianne Laux, Éditions du Cygne), and Walt Whitman’s Civil War Writings (University of Iowa).

She is the recipient of over 20 awards & honors, including the Independent Press Award, a Hemingway Grant and an Albertine and FACE Foundation Prize. Her work has been translated into 19 languages. She wrote her thesis on Henry James for her MA in American Literature from the Sorbonne, received fellowships from the Goethe-Institut and Universidad Internacional de Andalucía, worked as a translator/interpreter for the Canadian Embassy, and taught at Hamilton College and Loyola Marymount University. She is a member of the Parlement des écrivaines francophones.

Enjoy!