I went to high school and college in the 80s, which means some of my formative years were spent in the period of American culture that particularly revolved around wearing the right […]
A Poetry Playlist
Let Us Help You Build a Better Writing Life
Is Your Writer Self Lonely, Frustrated, and Overwhelmed? Does it feel as if the demands of daily life keep pulling you away from your writing? You have to be a perfect parent, […]
Literary Foremothers: Emily Dickinson and Me
So many writers have responded to the poems and person of Emily Dickinson that it seems extravagant, even self-indulgent, to add another word. Adrienne Rich, in her eloquent essay, “Vesuvius at Home: […]
Is It Okay to Drink and Read Anne Lamott?
It seemed a fair question to ask myself, since that’s exactly what I was doing. I don’t have a clear answer, possibly due to the drink. Lamott is famous for writing […]
What She Said, April 29: Dunya Mikhail
I still feel that poetry is not medicine–it’s an X-ray. It helps you see the wound and understand it.
–Dunya Mikhail
National Poetry Month 2021: One Poem to Love
…We’ll float,
you said. Afterward
we’ll float between two worlds—
five bronze beetles
stacked like spoons in one
peony blossom, drugged by lust:
if I came back as a bird
I’d remember that—
until everyone we love
is safe is what you said.
What She Said, April 8: Naomi Shihab Nye
I do think that all of us think in poems. I think of a poem as being deeper than headline news. You know how they talk about breaking news all the time, that–if too much breaking news, trying to absorb all the breaking news, you start feeling really broken. And you need something that takes you to a place that’s a little more timeless, that kind of gives you a place to stand to look out at all these things. Otherwise you just feel assaulted by all the tragedy in the world. –Naomi Shihab Nye
What She Said, April 7: Jane Kenyon
The poet’s job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name, to tell the truth in such a beautiful way, that people cannot live without it. –Jane Kenyon
What She Said, April 6: Adrienne Rich
When a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her. –Adrienne Rich
What She Said, April 5: Anne Waldman
We have a motto at Naropa: “Keep the world safe for poetry.” It’s humorous but has some real bite to it. If the world is safe for poetry, it can be safe for many other things.
–Anne Waldman
The Gloria Sirens 