In an interview with the BBC, James Schuyler recalls an early ambition to become a painter, but explains his satisfaction for becoming a poet instead: “You don’t have to lug all that stuff around!”
Poetry can feel like a real something-out-of-nothing game, a 24/7 production strategy with little to no material overhead. Some of the most costly investments for the poet might be: learning to recognize that it’s possible to write; making the decision to try and try often; dealing with the realities of committing to a career that usually offers little economic reward. How does a poet utilize the energies around them (sensational, structural, spiritual) as poem material? How does a poem signal the conditions in which it was created? And what does a poem offer in return? Maybe: insight, love, proof of life? Essentially: let’s consider how visionaries spin confrontations with the immediate into an engagement with the timeless.
Readings for this meeting will include: Anselm Berrigan, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Marcella Durand, Fanny Howe, Sawako Nakayasu, James Schuyler, Lorenzo Thomas, Asiya Wadud, and others.
This meeting is free and open. Participants are invited to RSVP in advance to receive a packet of readings and other material to begin the conversation. Reading in advance, however, is not be required, nor is any particular education background or expertise. Come, talk about poetry and possibility, teach, learn, share, and connect more deeply with The Poetry Project community.