Love Child's Hotbed of Occasional Poetry by Nikky Finney

And there was always - there was a quiet voice or a louder voice or laughter, and I think that brought me directly to poetry.ĭETROW: I love that answer because my infant daughter is just starting to make sounds and mimic our speaking patterns. And there was always language in the air. I feel like I came from a family of storytellers. I often remember staring at somebody's mouth when they were talking. I do know that, for me, the orality of language, what I can hear. I think that - I mean, I don't know the detail of the answer to that question. It's good to be back.ĭETROW: When did you first fall in love with poetry?įINNEY: Oh, maybe when I first heard another human's voice. She won the National Book Award for her collection 'Head Off & Split,' and she is here to kick off National Poetry Month. And this year, to get things started, we have called renowned poet Nikky Finney. And every April, we celebrate by asking our listeners to submit Twitter poems that we might read on air. Today is the start of National Poetry Month. 'Just sit where you are and think about what you are passionate about.It's April, and that means it's time for one of our favorite things here at ALL THINGS CONSIDERED - poetry. And I say, 'Darling, there are 10 subjects, you know. 'For some reason my students always think they have to go find a subject: I want this to be a poem that has never been written before - a subject that's never been discussed. 'Encourage them to choose a topic they're already passionate about,' she said. 'We are human and we need to go and revive ourselves and remember what is all around us - and not just on CNN.'įinney's advice for our Twitter poets? Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Because that world, too, demands our attention,' she said.

'In this moment, maybe we do need to remember the cherry blossoms are in bloom, the azaleas are outside the window. Without our typical routines, many of us might be feeling like one day is just running into the next.īut this writer offers an optimistic take on a challenging time for many, Finney noted, as poets often do. That final line is no doubt a response to a life altered by the coronavirus crisis. 'There should be an edge that the reader walks, there should be surprise - it has all of that in just six lines.' 'That's what poetry should do,' she added. 'But then there's this colon right at the end that comes before the emphatic statement.' 'You can tell that the poet is lost in the visual,' Finney said. I don't know what day it is.- J McEntire March 26, 2020

Love Child's Hotbed of Occasional Poetry by Nikky Finney