Poetry, I tell my students,
is idiosyncratic. Poetry
is where we are ourselves…
Poetry is what you find
in the dirt in the corner,
overhear on the bus, God
in the details, the only way
to get from here to there.
Poetry (and now my voice is rising)
is not all love, love, love,
and I’m sorry the dog died.
Poetry (here I hear myself loudest)
is the human voice,
and are we not of interest to each other?
-Elizabeth Alexander, Ars Poetica #100
These lines have been in my head all week, since Orlando. xo
Didn’t you just write about these lines yesterday? Feel like I’m remembering … I put this quote up weeks ago and love that we are on the same wavelength! xox
Love this. I recently listened to the On Being conversation with Elizabeth Alexander and I was mesmerized. Loved it.
We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.
Praise Song for the Day
by Elizabeth Alexander
@Tina, I love that interview too! Elizabeth Alexander–what a poet, what a thinker, what a teacher.