Sunday 20 June 2021

Jessica Barksdale Inclán : part five

When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to? A particular author?

For years and years (about fifteen) I ordered the poetry anthology 180 More edited by Billy Collins for my freshman composition classes. My department was totally against teaching poetry in composition classes, but I always ended with a poetry paper. My students always loved that collection. They were sometimes stunned by how much they enjoyed the poems. And there are poems in that collection that I see as old friends. Each semester, I’d open up that book and feel relieved to see Hate Poem by Julie Sheehan and On Parting by Cate Marvin and Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy. Old friends who sustained me and my students.

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