What a joy to interview Anne Tardos about her new book The Always Already Absent Present. The audio is online thanks to Zach Charles and here is the video, recorded March 4, 2025. My introduction:

The number 7 according to one numerologist, “is both deep and wise… not satisfied with simple explanations and surface-level information… It knows… the real gold is buried deeper and won’t stop until it finds it … and then it’ll keep digging for more. Asking questions, researching, listening, and sensing are all special skills the 7 uses in its search for awareness. Though spirituality is especially important to the number 7 in Numerology, it takes a more intellectual approach to life than an emotional one. It’s an analytical number that enjoys gathering and filtering through information to find answers. [Yet] it has a… powerful intuition… which it uses as a guide. This combination of conscious and subconscious thinking allows the mind of the Numerology number 7 to shine a light into the very deepest realms to access hidden truths.”

Or as Anne Tardos would say, it reflects “An earnest desire to master language and freedom.” It does that in large part with the human brain which Anne says is “soft, warm & noisy.” A book of 77 seven line poems, all of which (but one) have seven words in them, is the latest offering from Anne Tardos. She is an American poet, author of 13 books of poetry, many of which have been translated and published in journals and anthologies around the world. The new book is The Always Already Absent Present and Anne is our guest.