How did you first engage with poetry?
I had some outstanding teachers who first exposed me to great writing – I would say both my sixth grade language arts teacher Mr. Levine and my AP English teacher Mrs. Langston profoundly influenced my literary sphere. Then, at McGill, I took a modern Canadian poetry course and discovered Michael Ondaatje, painted his poem “White Dwarfs” on the bathroom wall in my apartment (embarrassing, but true, and definitely without the landlord’s permission), and you know, felt things deeply. Or rather, learned you could feel things deeply without exceedingly flowery language or vague metaphors or empty abstracts. All that said, I didn’t start writing my own poems until I was about 24. It’s amazing what heartbreak and living by yourself in rural Nova Scotia can do for untapped creativity!
No comments:
Post a Comment