Poets on Poetry
April is National Poetry Month! Poetry readings fill up our calendars and poems fill up our newsfeeds. I love it.
Why should you read poetry? In honor of National Poetry Month, I asked poets from our region to share what they love about poetry with our readers. They responded as only poets can, with lines as lyrical as the work that they praise.
Leah Sewell does it for the thrill. "I read poetry because when a poem is good, it will surprise on an intellectual and/or emotional level and there’s a delicious thrill in that," she said. "I do it for the dopamines. Novels and longer prose can be fulfilling over hours and days, like a marriage partnership. Poems are quickies; they’re one-night stands. When they’re good they can leave you dumbfounded, struck, wondering aloud, 'Did that just happen?'"
Annette Billings and Kevin Rabas both remarked on the compressed power of poetry. Billings said, "I like to read poetry because it holds such sweet economy of words while simultaneously invoking generosity of emotions." Kevin Rabas describes his thoughts on poetry with lines that read like poetry: "Almost the whole range of human emotion and intellect can be packed into the small gift, the small box a poem makes. A poem can be dense like that, a collapsed star."
Israel Wasserstein, winner of a 2013 Kansas Notable Book Award, sees poetry as a way to make sense of the world. "I read poetry because art gives us tools we need to make sense of our lives, our societies, other lives and other societies, and because poetry is the art that most helps us understand how language matters to our experience," he said. "Poetry helps us understand the relationship between our language, ourselves, and each other. Without it we are poorer and benighted."
Come in and browse our poetry collection!
Roy Beckemeyer, winner of a 2015 Kansas Notable Book Award, notes the pleasure of poetry read out loud. "I love the way poems feel when I say them, how my mouth wraps around them, forms them, sends them out into the world," he said.
Eric McHenry, Poet Laureate of Kansas, loves poetry that draws him back: "I read poetry for the same reason I listen to music: I've gotten a poem stuck in my head and I want to hear it again. When I open a book of poetry, it's almost always to a particular poem, which I then read several times. When I read new poetry, or poetry that's new to me, it's in the hope of discovering poems that I'll want to hear again and again. My relationship to poetry is much more like my relationship to my iTunes library than to any other type of literature."
Our library has a fantastic collection of poetry! Check out the shelves below for recommendations from these fantastic poets, or ask a librarian to help you find poetry that resonates with you.
Want more interviews from our library? Check out these blogs and podcasts.
Poetry Podcasts
- HUSH Podcast #71, Topeka Poets, with guests Dennis Etzel Jr. and Eric McHenry.
- HUSH Podcast #55, Topeka Poets, with guests Israel Wasserstein and Leah Sewell.
- HUSH Podcast #39, Sylvia Plath.
Poet Interviews on TSCPL.org
