Living near the National Cathedral in DC, where I taught creative writing, I wrote this poem during a reflective period. A student’s question about expressing joy amid hardship challenged me, as my work often addresses violence against BIPOC individuals. The poem emerged as a turning point in my collection, "Cowboy Park," inspired by the serene sight of a deer family on the cathedral lawn. It blends themes from my upbringing with a touch of optimism.
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In Memoriam: Shuntaro Tanikawa, Giant of Japanese Poetry
"Tanikawa stunned the literary world with his 1952 debut work Two Billion Light Years of Solitude, a bold look at the cosmic in daily life, sensual, vivid but simple in its use of everyday language. Written before Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, it became a bestseller....He said he used to think poems descended like an inspiration from the heavens. But, as he grew older, he felt the poems welling up from the ground. Shuntaro Tanikawa was 92 years old."
viaTHE GUARDIAN |
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What Sparks Poetry:
Lloyd Wallace on What Keeps Us
"The sub-title of this installment of What Sparks Poetry is 'Poems to Read in Community.' The Poetry Daily team convened this semester, inspired by C.D. Wright’s “What Keeps,” to select a group of twenty poems, most from our last year of publication, that one might pass across the table—to a loved one, to oneself. In last year’s version of this feature, Kerry Folan said the poems selected were meant to 'offer sustenance.' Roque Dalton did say that poetry, like bread, is for everyone. And I still think that holds true." |
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