Hank Lazer talks with Charles Bernstein about the confluences of his identities, Southen poetry, the poetics of jazz and transition, the forms of his work, the purported conflict between creativity and critical thinking and his poem. Figure.

The poet discusses his development as an artist, his breaking away from conventional book publications, his movement toward handwritten "drawn" poems, and his relation to Larry Eigner.

The poet and professor on on the truth in poetry, on religion, on living in Southern California, and on the nature of lyric poetry. She also discusses a couple of the poems read in our companion segment, Rae Armantrout Reading.