What poets changed the way you thought about writing?
So many! Different poets at different moments of my life have changed everything.
Wendell Berry’s critiques of America were some of my first glimpses into writing as a politically powerful act. Adrienne Rich built on that sense for me, and added the element of rage – how to make a poem seer with anger without boiling over. Then Neruda took all that and wrapped it in chocolate, velvet, and star-scapes. Ooof!
Most recently Danez Smith has blown absolutely my mind open about what a poem can be, and not just politically. The sheer courage and creativity they allow for and deliver in their poetry is off the charts for me. I read Homie with my mouth on the floor and laughing and cheering and sobbing simultaneously. But that book opened my mind beyond an expansion of my concept of form. It forced me to consider how to engage with the poetry I am not the target audience for. In an interview about the book, Smith made it clear that Homie isn’t for white people, so for me it begged the question of how to engage fully and respectfully as a reader when I’m not the intended reader. And that got me thinking about the importance of audience in my own writing in a way I hadn’t fully considered before, and reconsidering who I am writing for and why. So Smith is definitely rocking my world right now on these levels and others I’m not sure I can even articulate yet.
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