I’m aware that’s a lot to ask of busy readers. All-purpose words—great, cool, neat—were used for all purposes. I write poetry because though I can and have and will keep writing other things, the process does not feel the same, does not feel as powerful, does not feel as full of spark, intent, deliberateness, brevity, hope. I would. We built a fake estate.Levinas said to see ourselves we need each other yet, doorbells, rows of them, glow in the night villagea string of lit invitations no elbow has leaned into. Photo by Melissa Mahoney, Peter Behrens with his wife, Basha Burwell, and their son, Henry Behrens. Above all, I desire an experience, a mode of experience available to me only through poetry. Will I even spend time with my mom today or will she be care-taking for a drunken man again? O the places where pavement runs out and ragwortsprings up, where Lindenwood ends but doesn’t abut. Growing up, Reginald Dwayne Betts RI ’12 loved to read—everything from biographies of basketball players to The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. When I write poetry the ideas flow quickly and then I go in and add, or edit, or even, should I need to research something, just to make sure it is the right word or concept. I do not know that it can be taught or trained or molded if it is not already there. I write poetry because it is the way my mind speaks to itself. I have written about growing up working class and having to fight for so much in terms of who I was, who I wanted to be, and how I was going to get there. I love reading poetry. It was her escape from her life. The constraint of writing my novel without featuring the letter ‘o’ made me work harder to look beyond obvious ways of expressing things. And it connects me to others in a way that nothing else ever really has. But then again, if a book of poems gives you permission to slow down, to contemplate and savor, maybe that’s not the worst thing. You can support her on Patreon. To Write Better Prose. To want to write it. Alice Lyons. The “upstairs” language seems such a tiny current in that vast sea. This is my it. Photo by Dana Smith One of the reasons I write poems (there are many that I know of, and probably many more that I don’t) is because my life is made of questions, and some of those questions seem most answerable by the thinking poems let me do. I write poetry because I love it. As a bonus, you’ll feel pretty accomplished once you’re done! Maria's contest may reveal, I suspect, that writers write for different reasons than publishers publish. This issue, guest-edited by poet and memoirist Nick Flynn, contains a diverse collection of poems, essays, and stories, from Eric Fair's essay Consequence, on being an interrogator at Abu Ghraib, to Major Jackson's list poem, "Why I Write Poetry." In high school friends would ask me to write poems for them. Request the article directly from the author on ResearchGate. It is spiritual fun. That strand is a strong one in the book, but a lot of the poems are weirder and consciously less placeable than that summary would imply. A string of poems tells the story of my Chinese mother, who was an unwanted girl adopted as a baby, growing up in Hong Kong in poor and precarious circumstances. Tapahonso's reading was part of the Roosevelt Poetry Readings--made possible by a gift that helps bring poets of recognized stature to the Radcliffe Institute--and was cosponsored by the Harvard University Native American Program.Photo by Kevin Grady, Radcliffe Staff Photographer, Moderator Stephanie Burt had praise for the comic book Jem, which includes a trans character in one of its storylines. I do know I can always grow and learn. Interviewing people with cancer diagnoses—who are thinking about death—and talking about death with them,” Pollan said. Ross Gay. Photo by Dana SmithMy initiation into language and poetry was split-level, like the ranch houses on our cul-de-sac in a suburb of Paterson, New Jersey. And poets. I love thinking about poetry. I got into better situations. My head breaks up everything I think into potential poetry. Which is thinking in music and associations and pictures; but equally, or more, thinking with my tongue, my mouth, my throat, my breath, my feet, my hips, my heart (yup, I said it, and I meant it: heart heart heart)—which is all to say, thinking with and by the truth of my body, which is fading away as we speak. Photo by Tony Rinaldo, Cynthia Dwork. The maggotturning in its corpse. Greed got in the way. I know that some of my poems are good, some are great, and some are so-so. We giggled at nonsense ditties, stuff we made up, Dr. Seuss. Poetry returns me to that basement, that vivid state in which language can be felt on the tongue as a substance, a dear birthright, a food we can play with, together. It is serious fun. And yet here I was doing just that. I started to write not long after. Photo by Jessica Scranton, Natasha Trethewey_photo courtesy of Natasha Trethewey. Thinking with the truth of the fading, I’m saying. "Ways with Words" conference at Radcliffe explored the problematic present of gender identity and language along with those living it. To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the author. Need a few good reasons to write a poem? To read the article of this research, you can request a copy directly from the author. Stop,you said, printing, my elbow with a rusty index, pointing past an ancientmeal’s craquelured dish. The urge to write, however, didn’t come until he was serving a nine-year sentence for carjacking. Reading a book by Lewis Hyde RI ’14 is like turning and turning a many-faceted prism in more directions than you thought possible. The three poets in the 2015–2016 fellowship class dig deep to tell us what drives them. Upstairs, among first- and second-generation white European immigrant families, our native languages and accents were being thrown off like so many dirty schmattas that might betray our newcomer—and formerly working-class—status. I found my tribe of friends. Writers often say that their craft is a compulsion: they write because they must. Photo by Thos Swift for the New York Times, Funding Opportunities: Seminars & Workshops, Illuminating the Connections between Science and Poetry, Poet Natasha Trethewey RI '01 Wins Pulitzer, Lewis Hyde: Gift-Giver, Trickster, Defender of Forgetting, June Jordan Collection Opens for Research, The Navajo Nation’s Inaugural Poet Laureate Shares Words and Wisdom, More Talent Recruited to Harvard through Radcliffe Professorships, Garth Risk Hallberg Finds Much Is Not Lost in Translation. When I write other things I feel I go on too long, or I am not saying enough, or I could add more, or even research and then the ideas slip away from me, often. I write poetry because it takes an issue or experience, wraps it in vivid feeling, and gives it to readers like a gift. See, because I was the weird kid whose dad was the town drunk and whose grandma just killed herself and oddly enough these things do not inspire empathy or support in high school age kids. It is like play. RI ’14 is like turning and turning a many-faceted prism in more directions than you thought possible. I write poetry because as you might notice, when I write long form anything I use too many commas. In some ways, the poems try to make sense of the difference between my life and hers. When I write poetry it is natural. Slouka, D. A. Powell, Claudia Rankine, Lauren Groff, and others. I write poetry because it is gentle, subtle, pressing, relentless activism that strives for equity and justice and that raises my voice and the voices of others who are up against things that are not giving people their full due when it comes to respect, human rights, kindness, or justice. Will my mom cry today? It wastouching my nose to his made me knowthe clover’s bloom, my wet eye to hismade me know the long field’s secrets.But it was putting my heart to the horse’s        that made me knowthe sorrow of horses. It helps me work towards the goals of being my highest self. All day. I know not everyone enjoys writing poetry, or even writing in general, … Made meforsake my thumbs for the sheen of        unshod hooves.And in this way drop my torches.And in this way drop my knives.Feel the small song in my chestswell and my coat glisten and twitch.And my face grow long.And these words cast off, at last,for the slow honest tongue of horses. I love putting fairy tales into poetry, love into poetry, parenting into poetry, and social justice into poetry. "The reading of a poem should be an experience [like experiencing an act]. Here is why reading poetry is good for you: First of all, poetry is emotional. What is it that I seek when I read a poem, when I write a poem? Is this sleepy drunk or angry drunk? instrument an upturnedbrush, flaked to the grain —the fusty sugar paper buckled. And when the time came, this is another story, I got out of that town. What drives him, however, is not what he knows about his family but what he doesn’t know: “The only way I know to learn what I don’t know is through fiction.”. A few lines from I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew sent us into spasms of giggles every time we read it, a cause-and-effect behaviorist experiment that never failed us: a very fresh, green-headed QuilliganQuail        sneaked up from behind and wentafter my tail! I feel where things go, re-read a few times to be sure, and then can see and touch and feel and wish the best for my tiny new creation. And yes, I would write it in scribbles on paper scraps like Emily Dickinson if that were my only option. Elliott Colla's project at Radcliffe explored the links between Egyptian literature and revolutionary politics. Photo by Jason Grow, For poet Reginald Dwayne Betts, the solitary work of writing is a kind of lyrical calisthenics. Poetry is justice in action, and also, vice versa. I learned to read at age three. For this, he studied poems, memoirs, and novels as well as the gestures and slogans used by activists during demonstrations. This is the dream come true. You asked a question and got a one-word answer, which was helpful. It’s a gift, a voice, a drive, a passion that just is or is not. And then I took one Sociology class and felt compelled to devote my life towards justice and keep poetry as best I could. Radcliffe fellow and prize-winning fiction writer Molly Antopol gets to know her creations through research and compassion. The entire family dynamic is centered around the drunk person. Boldly. The Boston Globe interviews author Garth Risk Hallberg in advance of his upcoming talk at Radcliffe on the novel and the city. A summary of my first collection, Loop of Jade (Chatto & Windus, 2015), would probably call it a poetic meditation on my mixed Chinese-English heritage. hard core and cunning speculation into mattersconcerning love and doubt, concerning want and plenty. It is like church and zen and healing and prayer. But also sort of lonely. Photo by Dana SmithI want to write poems people return to for mystery and nourishment. In her new novel, Radcliffe fellow Kristiana Kahakauwila examines heritage—and water—in Hawaii. This stylistically varied issue features emerging poets like Samuel Amadon and Sophie Klahr, as well as established writers such as Steve Almond, Mark Slouka, D. A. Powell, Claudia Rankine, Lauren Groff, and others. It is this one thing that makes me feel like the most possible me. “This has been a different kind of reporting for me. It’s another perplexing pothole in our road, loves.Hard core from the quarry might make it level. The greatest reason to write poetry is because it will make all of your writing … Swoon! Forgetting has myriad uses, such as forgiving the past. Poet Natasha Trethewey RI ’01 wins Pulitzer for her third collection, Native Guard. I was never “trained” or “given a degree” in this “field.” But looking back, most poets weren’t either. Unansweredthe doors are rotting from the bottom up. Couldn’t everybody feel that vacuum in our midst sucking the sweetness from our words? Language lacked the flavor and subtlety of varietals. I write poetry because it helps me clarify the moment, for myself, for others, for society. On the wall. And took poetry with me. to the oyster-crustat the edge of an unscraped palette — chewy rainbow, blistered jewels. Why I Write Poetry It is the precision I like, fine threads creating just what I see, an embroidery of words, the careful craft of putting in and pulling out, leaving just enough, the essence, a perfect picture. It is like meaningful work. In his essay on a day in the mind of a fellow, Cole ponders: What is fellowship? It is who I am. When I was 21, I moved to America, to study at Harvard for a year. I grew up in a family steeped in dysfunction. So my grammar and such things like rules makes me feel a bit stressed when I write things that are not poetry. He then read aloud Howe's poem. I left bad situations. I love putting my life into poetry. It was rare. It is the vagueness I like, where the things left out are more important than the things… Reading poetry is not simply about understanding the rhyme scheme of an Alexandrian sonnet or being able to write a paper on the theological conceits of the metaphysical poets. In all of this, I write poetry because it is me. Every day. The clearest memory I have of writing is writing a poem at the age of seven. Meanwhile, in the cigar-scented basement, we kids played amid Dad’s bar, golf trophies, and the taxidermic sailfish with the walleye he caught in Florida. I wrote. I had the honor of being able to work in the town bookstore where I found poetry books, poets, writers, readers, community and family. Its writing must be all the more so," as Wallace Stevens reminds us (905, 909). I write poetry because I enjoy it. She would read all of the time. It’s a way to swim in the communal ocean of language that we’re plunked into at birth, so mysterious and alien. If I do this right maybe he won’t get drunk today? Other things I have written about why I write poetry: And a poem about poetry because of poet love: Little monthly updates on the poetry of Jenny Justice and other observations, with the occasional writing prompt  Take a look, Why Starting a Blog Post is So Freaking Hard, Why Keeping to Your Writing Goal Is Important, There Is No Hack to Becoming a Good Writer, The Thirty-Second Productivity Cure for Indie Author Overwhelm, This Is Why We, As Writers, Repeat Ourselves, Increase Your Article Views 25% By Writing For a 6th Grade Reading Level. The literary critic Harold Bloom has called Henri Cole RI ’15 “the central poet of his generation.” Others have compared him to Walt Whitman and Elizabeth Bishop. Photo by Thomas Victor, courtesy of Schlesinger Library, Luci Tapahonso (Navajo) met with Harvard students over lunch on the day of her reading. I was mutely aware of the giant invisible hole into which the old ways of speech were swallowed. This is the goal. You can follow her poetry at Justice Poetic. I write poetry because it helps me clarify the moment, for myself, for others, for society. Same for me. In fact, troubling at labels and categories is a large part of their conceptual and emotional work. More stuff happened. I felt disconnected and unimportant as children of alcoholics often do. © 2008-2020 ResearchGate GmbH. They would be amazed. It engages that organ which is most underused in academia—the heart. Is the drunk person drunk? At school, I picked an old edition of T.S. They inspire ostracism and gossip. I want to write poetry, learn to read this poetry in public places, read more poetry, write more poetry, learn to make this poetry shine in books and journals, grow into more and more and more of a poet, give talks to kids about poetry, and keep sharing my poetry with you, here online, in ways that feel like give and take, like daily joyful beautiful stocking stuffer Christmas, like community and healing. Jenny Justice is a poet mom who longs to bring poetry to life in ways that spark empathy, connection, joy, and feeling. Radcliffe fellow Michael Pollan is exploring a budding rebirth of psychedelic drugs, all but banned since the 1960s. All set to be an English major. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer. I had hoped to write a book that would offer up certain pleasures on a first reading, but also an experience that would shift and deepen on later encounters. I would be happy. It was this thing I could do that felt real. The sorrowof a brook creasing a field. Will he be drunk soon? But when putting pen to paper, what is it that inspires some to communicate in verse? I write poetry because it connects me to the world in a way nothing else ever really has. My friend Mo’s wavy blond ponytail was fastened with what looked like two shiny gumballs on elastic. I watched the turquoise pastel melt between your fingerpads; how later you flayed, the waxen surface back to the sunflower patch of a forethought, your. Eliot’s Prufrock off the library shelf, not really knowing what it was: “I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.” I wanted desperately to be able to make something like that, singing just beyond sense. It was this thing I could do that hardly anyone else really could do. I like the idea of them lodged in the mind, where they subtly screw with the wiring. When the last contractions brought us to the brinkof our new predicament, we became developers. I write poetry because it is fun. Sarah Howe RI '16 wrote a poem dedicated to physicist Stephen Hawking for UK National Poetry Day—one inspired by her love of science and her exploration of the universe’s mysteries. Decades of narcissistic abuse. In 1996 Adrienne Rich wrote that “suffering is diagnosed relentlessly as personal” and that “we lack a vocabulary for thinking about pain as communal and public.” Rich’s work, however, is a good place to start looking for this vocabulary. I had a baby. My mom is probably the reason why I am a reader, why I turned to books, why books raised me. I remember the feeling of creation and of pride. I love love, love and love, and love and love poetry. I write poetry because I love words and I love freedom. The answers to the "why writers write" question may have important implications for the future of book publishing. Putting words on paper can help you make sense of the world around you, express your deepest emotions, and give you a healthy way cope with whatever is on your mind. (both arms embracing messages). I stopped feeling. So was the feeling of pride or being happy about myself. This issue, guest-edited by poet and memoirist Nick Flynn, contains a diverse collection of poems, essays, and stories, from Eric Fair's essay Consequence, on being an interrogator at Abu Ghraib, to Major Jackson's list poem, "Why I Write Poetry." ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication. Luci Tapahonso uses her inimitable storytelling to connect with students, fellows, and the public. A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. I stopped writing. And I want to somehow make that into what I do for the rest of my life. Which is also the truth of my wanting, in some real way, at least a little bit, to fade into you. This article from the 2007 Schlesinger Library newsletter highlights the June Jordan collection. To like it. Separately, an even larger writing contest is in full swing this month with nearly 200,000 participants. Explore past issues of the Radcliffe Quarterly, Home / About Us / Fellowship Program / Academic Ventures / Schlesinger Library / Events, Video and Audio / News / Alumnae / Contact / Get Involved / Give / Employment / Sitemap, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Harvard University 10 Garden Street Cambridge, MA 02138 info@radcliffe.harvard.edu Contact Us, © 2020 President and Fellows of Harvard College, Kristiana Kahakauwila. This stylistically varied issue features emerging poets like Samuel Amadon and Sophie Klahr, as well as established writers such as Steve Almond, Mark. And in my life at that point, throughout, on and off, that feeling of creating something that I could point to and see as “real” — something that was not there before until I came up with it, or it came out of me — was new, and rare. You upended everything, always careless of things: finest sables splayed, under their own weight,weeks forgotten — to emerge gunged, from the silted, floor of a chemical jamjar.I tidied, like a verger or prefect, purging, with the stream from the oil- fingered tap. It was dragging my hands along its belly,loosing the bit and wiping the spitfrom its mouth made mea snatch of grass in the thing’s maw,a fly tasting its ear. Lines on the Pathetic Fallacy, and: Lines on Sublation, God Breaketh Not All Men's Hearts Alike: New & Later Collected Poems (review). I grew up in a family where not much communication happened. Morning, noon, or night. So I read. To be taken in by your breath, your body—maybe, even, a little bit, to die there, which is what sound does when it leaves the body, unless, settling into the body of another, it becomes something else. One of those things that I had to fight for was to claim poetry for myself. I found poetry again. There was something about being in an unfamiliar place, feeling foreign again—my family emigrated from Hong Kong to England when I was seven—that pushed me into writing poems with a commitment and need I hadn’t really felt as a jotting teenager. ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication. It is so so so much deep level soul joy. It is creative fun. Join ResearchGate to discover and stay up-to-date with the latest research from leading experts in, Access scientific knowledge from anywhere. The Harvard Gazette speaks with poet and Radcliffe fellow Ross Gay, who is a finalist for the National Book Award for his latest book of poems, Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. where we have no authorized voice but are oddly fittedout for the pain it takes to build bit by bit. Sarah Howe. Working class kids were not supposed to lean towards poetry. Photo by Dana SmithOne of the reasons I write poems (there are many that I know of, and probably many more that I don’t) is because my life is made of questions, and some of those questions seem most answerable by the thinking poems let me do. She loves writing love poems, climate change awareness poems, poems for kids, and of course, poems about poetry and poets. It becomes, if we are lucky, another kind of music. Courtesy of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Adrienne Rich. Interested in research on Poetry Writing? I grew up in a family where my daily life was permeated with little sharp feelings of being isolated, weird, alone, poor, and bored. In his three novels and two collections of short stories, Peter Behrens RI ’16 plumbs his family’s history in Canada, England, Germany, and Ireland. The opportunity to focus on independent research while benefiting from student researchers and interaction with scholars, scientists, and artists across disciplines has recently brought three new and accomplished faculty members to Harvard as Radcliffe Professors. My most core self. But I have found that I love writing it for people to read it. All rights reserved. anywhere neatly, a petered-out plot of Taytotumbleweeds, bin bags, rebar, roof slates, offcuts, guttering, drain grilles, doodads, infill, gravel!A not-as-yet nice establishment, possessing potential.

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