“…at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously–I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason” –John Keats, letter to George and Thomas Keats, 21 …
“Every word was once a poem” –Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Poet” In this so-called information age, we live among language more than ever before. For example, one of the latest fads drawing hype to itself faster than a black hole sucks light is Twitter: a web-based social networking site predicated on “tweets”–brief text messages uploaded …
Not all moments of frustration in poetry create pleasure. Sometimes, they bring pleasure and pain together in a compelling moment of poignance. Take, for example, the start of “Purple Bathing Suit” from Louise Glück’s collection Meadowlands: I like watching you garden with your back to me in your purple bathing suit: your back is my …
Midway through the first semester of my MFA, I seem to have hit a slump. Not horrible–just not the zealous enthusiasm with which I seemed to attack the first few months. I have just been getting up early and sitting down in the chair to write anyway–even if no material I really liked seemed to …
No, this is not an April fool’s post. Thanks to the Academy of American Poets, April is National Poetry Month, and apparently has been since 1996. Interestingly enough, according to some sources, April is also: Health Awareness Month National Blood Donor Month National Oral Health Month Notice a pattern? I do. National months are only …
National Poetry Month Means Time to Take Your Vitamins Read More »
“Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.” –Novalis Stephen Nachmanovitch’s Free Play is one of the best books on the inner game of art I have ever read (Mastery and The War of Art being others). So when I came across a transcript of the lecture he gave to the National Association of Poetry Therapy …
