16. Devon Walker-Figueroa: Private Lessons

In Episode 16 of Multi-Verse, poet Devon Walker-Figueroa reads "Private Lessons," in which a dying man determines that his young pupil must become a prima ballerina, and chats with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham about the uses of silence, breaking Dante's rhyme scheme, and what it means to be haunted by lessons long since over.

What use?" her dancer wonders, "in maligning his methods now?"

This is not your grandfather's ghost story.

"Private Lessons" can be found in Walker-Figueroa's collection Philomath (Milkweed Editions, 2021).