Diagnosed with cancer in August 2020, I started writing poems like “Rachel’s Chair.” In the middle of a global pandemic, political upheaval, my own treatment, walking the thin line between life and death, I asked myself, why write love poetry in a burning world? Perhaps it’s those small moments of joy in the midst of what is burning—a chair perfect for lovemaking—which might give us the strength to persevere.
Katie Farris on "Rachel's Chair" |
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| We apologize to anyone unable to access Poetry Daily yesterday, September 16, 2021. We’re happy to report that the server issue has been resolved and the site is operational again. Please make sure to read yesterday’s featured poem, “Nude Descending a Staircase,” by Shangyang Fang. |
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"Talking with Kendra DeColo"
"I didn’t write for a while and then, when I did, I felt so hungry to arrive at the page that everything would come pouring out—writing itself became the desire, to have that precious, life-sustaining connection with myself. I stopped being self-conscious about what I wanted to say and was able to write from a truly wild place."
via THE RUMPUS |
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What Sparks Poetry:
Aaron McCollough on Denise Levertov's The Poet In The World
"We are, as she says, 'living our whole lives in a state of emergency' and therefore have no choice but to resist the petty politics of disenfranchisement peddled by nationalist revanchism and instead to embrace a truly radical form of conservatism—the effort to 'save that earthly life, that miracle of being, which poetry conserves and celebrates.'" |
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