Poetry Is…
“Poetry is the least imposition on silence in a world of chatter.” -Marvin Bell Time for lunch.
Marvin Bell
Marvin Bell is an American poet. He is Flannery O’Connor Professor of Letters (Emeritus) at Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and was the first Poet Laureate of the state of Iowa. Marvin has been one of my most influential mentors.Marvin Bell and Pattiann Rogers on Poetry
I am through the last of the coursework for my first semester at Pacific, which means a brief respite until the residency at the end of June. One recent boost to tide me over was this series of video interviews with Marvin Bell and Pattiann Rogers. The cinematography is gorgeous, and Bell and Rogers have …
32 Points from Bell on Poetry
Today I came across this list of zen-like thoughts on poetry by Marvin Bell. The way I see it, there should probably also be a thirty-third point that says something like, “Don’t believe everything you read about poetry from lists.” That’s because as much as anything we can ever say might be “true” about poetry …
3 Traits of the Artist
The most striking feature of Marvin Bell’s craft talk during the Pacific University MFA Winter residency was his closing remark about the three traits of the artist. Here is what I wrote down: A disregard for convention A strong inner direction A love of challenges I have been meditating on these qualities ever since, seeing …
Off to a Howling Start
Rain lashed against the windows all night and wind howled all through the hotel ventilation ducts. So I’m bleary-eyed after a long day getting here and a night full of banshees, but fired up after an awesome panel discussion this morning. Here’s an excerpt from my notes: In the Q&A portion, Marvin encouraged us to …