| This particular “Invitatory,” from the collection’s title series, is an ekphrasis of Henry Ossawa Tanner’s painting, “The Annunciation:” a teenage girl wakes to a pillar of light at the foot of her bed—Tanner’s representation of the angel, Gabriel. The girl regards the pillar of light with trepidation, but we know the end of her story: she says yes. The poem expresses my hope that, everyday, we’ll ask ourselves, “What will my answer to the light be?” Molly Spencer on "Invitatory" |
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Interview with Zahra Abdihagi
"Much of my poetry and storytelling work centers around themes of peacebuilding, resilience and hope. I aim to highlight the shared experiences and aspirations of the Somali people, while also exploring the complex realities of conflict, displacement, and the challenges of rebuilding. I hope to inspire Somalis to come together, heal, and work towards a more just and peaceful society."
via UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME |
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What Sparks Poetry:
Alina Stefanescu on Language as Form
"Gaps are loud: they announce an absence. I love thinking about how absences are announced. In Wolf's lyric serialism, the fragments reveal their constraints: they recombine to offer a speaker starved of affection or tenderness. The absence is announced through sparsity. Other absences are announced through excess, as in accumulations of descriptions where the accretion reveals that something is missing." |
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