What Sparks Poetry is a serialized feature that explores experiences and ideas that spark the writing of new poems. In our fourth series, Object Lessons, poets meditate on the magical journey from object to poem via one of their own poems. Each Monday's delivery brings you the poem and an excerpt from the essay.
"I’m not that old, but I’ve lived long enough to know that the lion’s share of my life is behind me. I know there are relationships I can’t hold on to, and places I can’t return to. I’m just beginning to see “real time,” the arc of almost half a century, and how the generational waves, both violent and beautiful, define our species."
"Poetry is also a way to carry on her Sudanese heritage. 'I come from a place where the history is based on oral tradition, my tribal tongue isn’t written, everything is passed down from person to person,' Mahmoud says. 'That’s why that’s why I write about it so much. I write about it because I’m terrified of forgetting.'"
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