Who Reads Poetry: 50 Views from “Poetry” Magazine

Description

Who reads poetry? We know that poets do, but what about the rest of us?  When and why do we turn to verse?  Seeking the answer, Poetry magazine since 2005 has published a column called “The View From Here,” which has invited readers “from outside the world of poetry” to describe what has drawn them to poetry. Over the years, the incredibly diverse set of contributors have included philosophers, journalists, musicians, and artists, as well as doctors and soldiers, an iron-worker, an anthropologist, and an economist. This collection brings together fifty compelling pieces, which are in turns surprising, provocative, touching, and funny.   In one essay, musician Neko Case calls poetry “a delicate, pretty lady with a candy exoskeleton on the outside of her crepe-paper dress.” In another, anthropologist Helen Fisher turns to poetry while researching the effects of love on the brain, “As other anthropologists have studied fossils, arrowheads, or pot shards to understand human thought, I studied poetry. . . . I wasn’t disappointed: everywhere poets have described the emotional fallout produced by the brain’s eruptions.” Even film critic Roger Ebert memorized the poetry of e. e. cummings, and the rapper Rhymefest attests here to the self-actualizing power of poems: “Words can create worlds, and I’ve discovered that poetry can not only be read but also lived out. My life is a poem.” Music critic Alex Ross tells us that he keeps a paperback of The Palm at the End of the Mind by Wallace Stevens on his desk next to other, more utilitarian books like a German dictionary, a King James Bible, and a Macintosh troubleshooting manual.   Who Reads Poetry offers a truly unique and broad selection of perspectives and reflections, proving that poetry can be read by everyone. No matter what you’re seeking, you can find it within the lines of a poem.   Contents Introduction / Don Share It Is Nothing like That / Richard Rapport Better Speak / Hank Willis Thomas Out There / Lili Taylor The Madness of the Gods / Helen Fisher Love Jones / Natalie Y. Moore All My Heart for Speech / Roger Ebert They Could Croon / Archie Rand One- Track Mind / Leopold Froehlich The Necessary Fluster / Naomi Beckwith Poetry, Daily / Mary Schmich Knowing Nothing / Jia Tolentino Four Walls / Iain McGilchrist A Place for Poetry / Roxane Gay Romance and Reality / Lt. Gen. William James Lennox Jr. Haiku Economics / Stephen T. Ziliak Green I Love You Green / Nalini Nadkarni The True Nature / Tracey Johnstone The Idea of Order / Alex Ross Para Rumbiar / Fernando Perez Lucid, Inescapable Rhythms / Nicholas Photinos “Two Loves I Have . . .” / Alfred Molina Written in Rock Candy / Momus To Hell with Drawers / Will Oldham My Life Is a Poem / Rhymefest Loosening the Grip / Jolie Holland Word’s Worth / Rob Kenner My Flaming Hamster Wheel of Panic about Publicly Discussing Poetry in This Respected Forum / Neko Case Poetry Out Loud / Sally Timms Poetry Is Useless / Anders Nilsen Poetry Is a Dumb- Ass Spider / Lynda Barry Wild Unrest / Kay Redfield Jamison The Fire of Life / Richard Rorty Gloriously Undone / Matt Fitzgerald Debris / Jerry Boyle On the Road with Wallace and Wystan / Josh Warn Everything Moves to Live / Xeni Jardin Earthward / Amy Frykholm Happy, Snappy, Sappy / Daniel Handler Like, a Noticeable Amount of Pee / Michaelanne Petrella On Poetry / Ai Weiwei Imperfect Recall / Christopher Hitchens Dust and Stones / Etienne Ndayishimiye Imagining Freedom / Mariame Kaba Sarajevo Blues / Aleksandar Hemon Reporting Poetry / Jeffrey Brown Like Soldiers Marching / Rachel Cohen Rama Stores / Pankaj Mishra To Speak with Many Tongues at Once / Omar Kholeif How with This Rage / Chris Hedges Acknowledgments Contributors