What brought you to poetry ? Do you have memories or experiences to reflect on ?
What are you working on now or what is your current obsession or inspiration ?
What are the best ways for someone to engage with poetry ?
Who are your favorites ?
Do you have any new publications or recognition ?
One of my passions has been Poetry of Witness , or Poetry of Extremity . I believe the relationship between reader and poem is always political in that even the most lyrical poem can implicate its reader in the experience and truth it renders . Poetry can make us think and feel in powerful and articulate ways . It can bring us to action . As Rilke ’ s poem “ Archaic Torso of Apollo ” demonstrates , art can penetrate human consciousness to the point of epiphany and permanent change . The poem ’ s last line is a charge of responsibility : “ You must change your life .” I believe poems refuse the disingenuous and inauthentic . The term “ Poetry of Witness ” itself suggests a conception of poetry that is deeply ethical , calling upon the poem and the reader to bear the responsibility of human connection and truth . Today ’ s students ’ feelings about the present and future have been irremediably altered by school shootings , the war in Syria , the refugee crises around the world , our own current struggle to humanely enact border policy , and the devastation of the earth ’ s health and sustainability . This study of world poets brings not political rhetoric and tribalism to the seminar table , but individual voices of men and women , landscapes , rivers and seas , history , memory , children , and doubt and faith .
What brought you to poetry ? Do you have memories or experiences to reflect on ?
One of my best childhood memories is of being in the children ’ s section of the Portland Library . Several years ago , I visited it again , expecting from an adult perspective that it would seem smaller , less majestic . I sat in one of the small chairs and perused the bookshelves . The space was every bit as magical and majestic . While I loved stories and narrative , I was most powerfully drawn to the image . I took many art classes as an undergraduate , and art has continued to take up a large place in my life . The connection between these two passions led me to this poetry writing life .
What are you working on now or what is your current obsession or inspiration ?
This season inspires me ! Tomato growing becomes serious business ; I check the garden ( calling it a garden is a stretch ) every day for the joy of seeing everything bigger , blossoms transforming into peppers and tomatoes . The dog gets even more spoiled , which is perfectly fine with me !
What are the best ways for someone to engage with poetry ?
Read . Read outside your comfort zone . If you love Spoken Word poetry , read the American poets of the 50 ’ s and 60 ’ s . If you love the American and British romantic poets of the 19th century , read Shakespeare ’ s sonnets . Go to Auntie ’ s Bookstore and pick up an anthology of contemporary poetry . There is so much available in translation : the poems of Wyslawa Szymborska , the Polish poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996 , speak brilliantly through time to the world ’ s present tensions and conflicts .
Who are your favorites ?
Emily Dickinson , one of the greatest minds of the 19th century , is a poet and figure who challenges me as few other poets do . I teach a Dickinson / Whitman seminar that is a great joy and challenge . The poets Czeslaw Milosz , Zbigniew Herbert , Wyslawa Szymborska , Yehuda Amichai , and Paul Celan have been deeply important to me , as well as the American poets Elizabeth Bishop , Jean Valentine , Mark Strand , Adrienne Rich , Jorie Graham , and Michele Glazer .
I am a fan of The Literary Review , Arts & Letters Journal of Contemporary Culture , North American Review , Ploughshares , The Boston Review ( for current political and cultural conversation as well as poetry ), J Journal : New Writing on Justice , Willow Springs , Plume Poetry Journal , and others . Every year I try to add a few new journals to my reading . As with volumes of poetry I return to again and again , my favorite journal issues are well-worn .
I always have many poems at various stages of drafting . I ’ m working with what may be the genesis of a series with a political and global focus . I am putting a manuscript together with work from the last five years or so ; by early fall I hope to share it with my writing group for their critique .
Do you have any new publications or recognition ?
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