Shange, On Poetry

For the full article (on the poet Shange), please visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/nyregion/a-poet-with-words-trapped-inside.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&nl=nyregion&emc=edit_ur_20131027&

 “Her art has always told the story of people who are suffering, and given meaning to their struggle. Now she’s looking back and asking, ‘What is art going to be for me in the body that I have now?’ ”
 Ms. Shange sat with a few friends and considered the question: What if poetry isn’t enough?

“You have to keep acting like it is enough,” she said. “You have to keep affirming it, and bringing yourself to it. You have to keep hoping that it will move the mountain.” 

To art that gives meaning to struggle. To faith.

Dear Sugar

So I was at work today, listening to a podcast (The Writer's Block...PBS?) and it was one of those podcasts that make you stop working and start listening. Not just the type of listening like the way you listen to music mindlessly while working, but listening the way you listen when you can't do anything but listen because what you're listening to compels you to Just Listen (anybody else read that Sarah Dessen book?). That kind of listening.

I was listening to an excerpt from Tiny Beautiful Things (http://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Beautiful-Things-Advice-Sugar/dp/0307949338), which I'd heard about and had been curious about but hadn't read. And now it's on my to-read list. I'm not sure how long it'll take me to get the book (let's just say the list is a long one and leave it at that), but I definitely want to read it.

This is an excerpt from the excerpt she read from. Find the whole column here: http://therumpus.net/2011/02/dear-sugar-the-rumpus-advice-column-64/

Most things will be okay eventually, but not everything will be. Sometimes you’ll put up a good fight and lose. Sometimes you’ll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go. Acceptance is a small, quiet room.
...
The useless days will add up to something. The shitty waitressing jobs. The hours writing in your journal. The long meandering walks. The hours reading poetry and story collections and novels and dead people’s diaries and wondering about sex and God and whether you should shave under your arms or not. These things are your becoming.



To long meandering walks and reading and wondering, and yes, even shitty jobs, because they are "your becoming." To becoming.

Faith and Poetry (Natasha Trethewey)

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/08/154566358/natasha-trethewey-poetrys-always-a-kind-of-faith


Faith. What comes to mind - God/Buddha/Jehovah/etc. and religion? Family? Country?

Poetry. High school English class. Memorization. Shakespeare and incomprehensible words. Blah blah blah. Why should I care? Why does this matter?

I used to not like poetry. I hated analyzing it. I didn't get it. And then I don't know, I started reading it more. First, it was because I had to. Now, it's because I want to. (Funny how that can happen, isn't it?)

I love what Trethewey (new U.S. poet laureate) says about poetry.

"I think poetry's always a kind of faith. It is the kind that I have," Trethewey says. "It is what can offer solace and meaning but also ... allows me to understand these events."

If someone asked me to explain why poetry is relevant today, I think that quote is a fine answer. (Of course, not everyone finds faith in poetry. Sometimes it takes some ice cream or talking to a friend or crying it out or whatever. But I've always been able to find comfort in words.)

There is so much going on in the world today. If you skim newspaper headlines, sometimes it seems like there are only negative things: war, destruction, fires, death. Greed and corruption and people hurting other people. And yet there are still poets. Still artists and dreamers and people trying to live their lives the best way they can. 

So here's to faith, and poetry. If you think you don't like poetry, please try reading different types of poetry. I bet you'll find at least a few poems you relate to and love.