WWNO skyline header graphic
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Local Newscast
Hear the latest from the WWNO/WRKF Newsroom.

Support local, independent journalism on WWNO with your Member Fest gift now! Click the donate button or Call 844-790-1094.

NOLA Life Stories: Poet Lois Tillman's Real & Surreal Influences

Historic New Orleans Collection
Lois Tillman became close friends with trumpter Michael Ray and used to perform regularly at Jazz Fest with his Cosmic Krewe.

Lois Tillman fondly remembers a Chinaberry tree that was in the yard of her childhood home. It was there that her Papa taught her to love poetry, which began her literary journey.

As the years came and went, Lois became a teacher, a writer, and a performance poet known as Starlyte.  She found out inspiration comes in many forms, from the terrestrial to the cosmic.

Lois began self-publishing her poetry in 1979. Her work focuses on everything from childhood remembrances, to Hurricane Katrina, to the universal theme of "do unto others as they would do unto you." 

PoemFromSephonia.mp3
This open is taken from Lois Tillman's book, Sephonia.

  This interview was conducted by Mark Cave for the Historic New Orleans Collection 

Thomas Walsh is an independent radio producer and audio engineer who lives in New Orleans. You'll see him around town recording music, podcasts, short films, live events and radio features. He's practically glued to his headphones. A movie geek to his core, he's seen every film listed on the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Movies and would love to talk to you about them.