When we introduced this blog to you, I told you that every single person here has very distinct writers and writing styles they prefer to read. Emma, for example, is an avid reader of fiction (and an incredible writer of it, too). It’s a sweet feeling being around readers and writers of all kinds. In the time that I’ve been here, I’ve acquired an ever-growing list of literary recommendations gifted to me by the conversations painting the air of the 14th floor.
That being said, I don’t think anyone in the office is particularly invested in poetry! Or, isn’t an avid reader of poetry, I should say. In fact, I don’t know many people at all that are inclined to read poetry as opposed to anything else they could be reading. It doesn’t entirely surprise me. I see people around me toss the craft out as a ‘dead language’ somewhat frequently. I don’t know what else to tell you except for it’s not. Poetry is not a ‘dead’ language. Language is constantly being constructed and modified and shaped, and there are dozens of living poets doing some really profound work with the words they have access to. A few of them are right here, teaching the craft at Gotham. Read their work. Read living poets.
For me, poetry feels like so much of the language I think and breathe in at the moment. But this is only a fairly recent development. So much of my headspace right now is poetry. I’m consuming a lot of poetry, I’m writing even more poetry (trying, at least), and I’m in a strange place where I’m now seriously contemplating pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing. I’m indebted to so many brilliant minds in undergrad that helped me unearth this.
There are many poets whose work I absolutely adore, and for a while, I was considering putting up a review of one specific piece. I’ll still do this, I think. But later. Right now I want to give you something. Here are a few of the poets and poems that have been taking up my headspace for a while now. I hope you’ll hold on to something that interests you, and maybe we can anchor ourselves in that thing, next time.
Sincerely,
Sakshi
Patricia Smith https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/patricia-smith
Reginald Dwayne Betts: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/reginald-dwayne-betts
Franny Choi: https://www.frannychoi.com/about-1
Ocean Vuong: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ocean-vuong
Saeed Jones: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/saeed-jones
"A Memory"
Tracy K. Smith (who I found out also used to teach at Gotham!): https://poets.org/poet/tracy-k-smith
"Duende"
Ilya Kaminsky: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ilya-kaminsky