In writing "Janus Faces the Canned Goods Aisle," I was wondering how my former life as a grocery store employee may have influenced my poetic practice: how the pressures of that job nourished my want for precision, for aesthetic control, for artifice. This is a poem about low-wage work, about the dreams and the desires for transformation that emerge under such conditions. Mack Gregg on "Janus Faces the Canned Goods Aisle" |
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Emily Lu Gao Interviews Poet Emily Lee Luan
“My linguistic project in the collection is to make people look at the Chinese character on the page, rather than reading past it, or allowing the silence of non-recognition to shadow its appearance....My poems usually offer a pathway toward gleaning meaning from Chinese character, through repetition, context, negation, form, etc.”
via NIGHTBOAT BOOKS |
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What Sparks Poetry:
Lesley Battler on "redundant"
"I chose to feature 'redundant' as this is one of my first poems written as the pandemic started to unfold. It marks a shift in my work, from a focus on resource industry capitalism to a more interior world, mapping the psychological dissonance caused by the virus along with the greater issue of climate change. In this poem, and in all my post-COVID writing, I have continued working with found texts and I think this poem’s language and boxed-in structure reflect a sense of diminishment and claustrophobia." |
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Write with Poetry Daily This April, to celebrate National Poetry Month, we'll share popular writing prompts from our "What Sparks Poetry" essay series each morning. Write along with us!Find a mirror and take a look at yourself. Really look. Make some notes—and then think about yourself in a different way—beyond how you look, what do you feel? Now think about what a self-portrait is. Tarfia Faizullah, in her poem, "Self-Portrait as a Mango," furthers the idea that it is a drawing or portrait done by yourself — it’s more than a selfie—it’s a way of discovering the self. The theme of a self-portrait in poetry is common—there is a strong sense of voice, and clear imagery. How would you portray yourself in writing? How do you describe yourself? Are you an object, or something more abstract? Write a self-portrait poem in which you render and create yourself. |
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