What poets changed the way you thought about writing?
A poet whose work I return to time and again is Don Domanski. I love the fable-like quality to his poems that incorporate so many different traditions from science and geology to various world religions. There’s a buzz to most every phrase in his work. Last year, I spent two concentrated months reading and writing and I’m pleased with the poetry that came out of that period. Upend (Jackpine Press) was the resulting chapbook. I was more aware of the layering of lines and metaphors while writing that than ever before thanks to the work of Domanski.
In terms of straight up poetics, Jane Hirshfield is someone else who I’ve reread. I like her clarity of vision and how she sees poetry as a spiritual pursuit. To be perfectly frank, I may write something that neither goes anywhere nor means anything to anyone, and if all I have is that hope in a final product, then I’ve failed. If I take up the task of writing as something inherently valuable (a period of reflection on meaning, language, etc), then I’m bound to benefit from this time whether or not my poetry makes it off my laptop.
Oh, and Mary Ruefle rocks. She’s someone I need to read more. Someone whose work always delights in its sharp cognition and radical flights.
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