thinking about poetry // & what to read this june
Happy June, folks! I hope that your month is off to a good start and that you’re making the best of Gemini season.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Marissa Ahmadkhani, iconic poet and one of my closest friends, for The West Review; and, ever since, I have been thinking about her answer to the question “What is the role of poetry?”—one that is so true and so wonderfully articulated:
To share emotional worlds! I really think it’s a place where people can dive into difficult topics like trauma, or heartbreak, or loss. Poetry allows us to explore these things that feel so heavy. And, often, it shows us that—under all that weight—we aren’t alone.
And, of course, this got me thinking of other writers’ thoughts on art’s power and meaning—thoughts I have archived and always keep close to me. Here are some for you to ponder, too:
Art can be so good that it consumes me. Being consumed is an act of salvation—I give myself up to the possibility of true light. Whenever I encounter genius in another person’s work, I give myself over to it, hoping to forget myself, hoping to touch it for real for at least a moment.
-Chelsea Hodson
Art has always had a balancing effect on your mind; it is a reminder that you are more than a body and its accompanying grief.
-Carmen Maria Machado
Language. Words. The world is not real for me until it has been pushed through the mesh of language.
-John Banville
I think the impulse that’s driving my writing is the impulse to understand and imagine deeply. That is, to go microscopic on the terrain of human tenderness in the context of this world wrecked by the violences of empire; and to imagine new ways of feeling, new ways of living.
-Franny Choi
The poem is for self-preservation, but it is also written in the hopes of speaking to these private fears and joys that we all share, but that we don’t get to talk about in public spheres. In that sense, it is also communication between people in order to build a space where we can recognize one another.
-Ocean Vuong
Maybe the ultimate purpose of literature is to humble us to our knees, to that know-nothing place.
-Joy Harjo
If any of the above writers are new names for you, I highly recommend reading their work.
I also recommend the following three books, which I read this week and loved:
Young Tambling, by Kate Greenstreet
how to be a good girl, by Jamie Hood
Love from Trieste, by Kirsten Thorup
And some essays/nonfiction, available on the interwebs to read for free:
“The Body, Forever,” by Kristen Arnett
“Eye to Eye: Black Women, Hatred, and Anger,” by Audre Lorde
“Learning to Love in the Wilds of Our Bodies,” by Aubrey Gordon
“Surviving Abolition,” by Kim Tran
And also I recommend reading Issue 5 of The West Review because I curated it and love it and could cry at how good these poems are.
And, finally, I recommend reading my zines so that I don’t have to haul the thousand copies I made across the country when I move next month. Use code “SUBSTACK” for 20% off at checkout. I’ll love you forever. I’ll mail you free stickers, too.
Stay safe and well, and happy reading!