Something I thought about:

  • In Against Silence, Frank Bidart articulates his poetics (and his approach to teaching poetry), in a few lines:

Set up a situation, —

… then reveal an abyss.

Duende. Sprung Rhythm.

Or (my favorite, paraphrased from Yeats)

Out of our argument with others we make

rhetoric, out of our argument with ourselves we make poetry —


That latter quote came up in Natasha Tretheway’s explanation of her revision of “Pentimento” to “Repentance” (which we discussed in class this week). I was thinking about the self as both subject and object of a poem and how this idea of implicating oneself changes the role of the “you” in a poem.

Something I did:

  • Attended part of the Desi Kidlit Summit and talks by former advisers. Cynthia Leitich Smith gave the Neustadt Prize lecture, and Frank Bidart was interviewed by Garth Greenwell for his book launch.
  • Organized and cleared decks for a writing push as soon as school vacation ends.

Something I read:

  • Winter Recipes from the Collective by Louise Glück