At the beginning of the pandemic, I read poems to my four-year old daughter as a way of both continuing my poetry practice while trying to be a full-time teacher to her, poet, professor, and dad. I hoped the collective readings would offer us something other than the panic that sat at the door step with all of the unknowns that surrounded this disease that had entered the country and ground it a halt. After each reading, I asked her if she felt anything. Sometimes, she responded with a poem of her own. This poem, “Journey to Satchidananda,” is a response to one of her poems, and the last line of the poem is hers, what she said to me while responding to a poem by Audre Lorde. Roger Reeves on "Journey to Satchidananda" |
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Japan's Emperor Shares His Hopes in Poetry In an annual poem ceremony, Emperor Naruhito looked toward an end to the pandemic. "The family's poems, as well as works composed by other members of the imperial family and 10 pieces chosen from 13,830 entries submitted by the public, were recited in the traditional style." viaKYODO NEWS |
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What Sparks Poetry: Teri Ellen Cross Davis on Lucille Clifton's "study the masters" "In 'study the masters,' I immediately see 'aunt timmie' as my grandmother, as my great aunt ironing the master poet’s linen. I love how 'he' is not what the poem is about—'he' is a consequence, a step on the ladder to 'aunt timmie.' In fact, it is 'aunt timmie' who is centered at the beginning of the poem; her invisible labor made visible drives the poem. America is the result of that labor, the last word." |
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