Writing ordinary to extraordinary

 

“Now I think poetry will save nothing from oblivion, but I keep writing about the ordinary because for me it's the home of the extraordinary, the only home.” – Philip Levine

Born on this date in 1928, Levine (who died in 2015) was best known for his poems about working-class Detroit.  A Pulitzer Prize winner and onetime U.S. Poet Laureate, Levine also taught for more than 30 years in the English department at California State University, Fresno.  

 

The son of autoworkers, Levine worked in an auto plant himself while taking night classes at Wayne State University.  Eventually, he gravitated to writing poetry, focusing on working class neighborhoods like the one he had grown up in. 

 

Levine said memory was fundamental to crafting his poems and the way most of his poems got started.

 

“Meet some people who care about poetry the way you do,” Levine said to aspiring poets.  “First, you'll have that readership.  Then keep going until you know you're doing work that's worthy and see what happens.”