A Writer's Moment: Poetry Is A Call To Action

A Writer's Moment: Poetry Is A Call To Action: “Poetry can tell us about what's going on in our lives - not only our personal but our social and political lives.” –   Juan Felipe Her...

Poetry Is A Call To Action

“Poetry can tell us about what's going on in our lives - not only our personal but our social and political lives.” –  Juan Felipe Herrera

The author of nearly two dozen books, the poet, performer, writer, cartoonist, teacher, and activist Herrera was the United States Poet Laureate from 2015-19.  

 

His experiences as the child of migrant farmers strongly shaped his work, such as the children's book Calling the Doves, which won the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award in 1997.   He also was awarded the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry for Half the World in Light.

 

“I'm a political poet - let us say a 'human' poet, a poet that's concerned with the plight of people who suffer. If words can be of assistance, then that's what I'm going to use,” he said.  “Poetry is a call to action, and it also is action.”   For Saturday’s Poem, here is Herrera’s,

 

Let Me Tell You What A Poem Brings 

Before you go further,
let me tell you what a poem brings,
first, you must know the secret, there is no poem
to speak of, it is a way to attain a life without boundaries,
yes, it is that easy, a poem, imagine me telling you this,
instead of going day by day against the razors, well,
the judgments, all the tick-tock bronze, a leather jacket
sizing you up, the fashion mall, for example, from
the outside you think you are being entertained,
when you enter, things change, you get caught by surprise,
your mouth goes sour, you get thirsty, your legs grow cold
standing still in the middle of a storm, a poem, of course,
is always open for business too, except, as you can see,
it isn't exactly business that pulls your spirit into
the alarming waters, there you can bathe, you can play,
you can even join in on the gossip—the mist, that is,
the mist becomes central to your existence.

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'The Capacity to Write'

A Writer's Moment: 'The Capacity to Write':   “I think we have a great deal of mythology around writing. We believe that only a few people can really do it. I wrote a book called &#39...

'The Capacity to Write'

 

“I think we have a great deal of mythology around writing. We believe that only a few people can really do it. I wrote a book called 'The Right to Write.' In it, I argued that all of us have the capacity to write. That it's as normal to write as it is to speak.” – Julia Cameron

Teacher, author, artist, poet, playwright, novelist, filmmaker, composer, and journalist, Cameron is most famous for both her teaching and her books on writing and creativity, beginning with her best-selling 1992 book The Artist's Way.  Since then she has written a remarkable 30 nonfiction books, 2 novels, 6 plays and 4 books of poetry.  She also has written many short stories, essays and screenplays.  Her most recent (2021) is The Listening Path: The Creative Art of Attention.

“I grew up in what you might call a relentlessly creative household,” she said.  “We were given art supplies, music supplies... Our mother knew enough to get us started and then stand back and not meddle. My parents never said to us, 'Don't you think you'll need something to fall back on?' They acted as though creativity was completely normal.”

Born on this date in 1948, she grew up in Chicago, went to college in New York and started her career as a writer at the Washington Post before moving over to Rolling Stone magazine.  It was there that she met director Martin Scorsese and after a fairly 

tumultuous marriage, they divorced but continued a close relationship, including collaborating on three films.

“I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something,” she said about her successful writing and teaching career.  “Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.“

 

 

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A Writer's Moment: Passing The ‘Taste’ Test

A Writer's Moment: Passing The ‘Taste’ Test: “One of the disconcerting things about writing for publication is that you're trying to clear your little parcel of land in a field whe...

Passing The ‘Taste’ Test

“One of the disconcerting things about writing for publication is that you're trying to clear your little parcel of land in a field where Taste is king - and, as we all know, there's no accounting for Taste.” – Darin Strauss

Born on this date in 1970, Strauss’s writing has handled the “taste” test just fine, earning a number of major awards and a Guggenheim Fellowship for “exceptional creative ability in the arts.”

A native of Long Island, he studied writing at Tufts University and then headed west, starting out as “Entertainment” reporter for the Aspen Times.  After struggling along at $50 per article, he decided to “head home,” as it were.    “I thought, 'I'll come back to New York.’ I worked for the Aspen Times when I lived in Aspen. I'll work for the New York Times when I live in New York.' It didn't work out that way.” 

Instead, he became a best-selling author.  His first book, Chang & Eng, won a basketful of awards, and his second, The Real McCoy, earned him the Guggenheim.  His poignant Half A Life won numerous major awards and “must read” citations and the National Book Critics Circle Award.   His most recent book, The Queen of Tuesday, has been nominated for the Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize.

 

A frequent guest speaker, he’s also now teaching writing at New York University where he advises his students to avoid excessive scene setting and “get into the story.”

 

 

“The main thing is to think strategically about what will engage your readers,” he said. “Trust me when I tell you that few people are eager to read a story whose opening lines sound like a dissertation on giant bugs.”

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A Writer's Moment: 'The Best Way To Experience Stories'

A Writer's Moment: 'The Best Way To Experience Stories': “ I still feel, as I did when I was six or seven, that books are simply the best way to experience a story.” – Philip R...