When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to? A particular author?
Having required a bit of renewal lately, I can answer this directly, although not exhaustively: John Ashbery, Emily Dickinson, Laura Riding Jackson, Clarice Lispector, Nathaniel Mackey, Alice Notley, Lisa Robertson, Jack Spicer, and on and on. A more exhaustive list would probably have 20 or so poets and writers on it, give or take. The test is simply whether reading a given author makes me want to write—not to write like them, exactly, but just to participate in the same activity—to be among them, in however small a way.
I think most writers have a roster like this. I otherwise read broadly, and I enjoy a great deal of what I read. But we all have our little pantheons, and I think it’s good to remind yourself that that source of renewal is there, and not to be shy about returning to it.
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