Hi friends,
It’s been a minute! But I’m back and today is a great day because it is my monthly poetry analysis newsletter, woohoo.
Today I’d like to look at the poem ‘News’ by Ben Purkert, which you can read (or listen to) here.
What an unlikely yet reassuring balm Purkert’s poem is, in a time when the news cycle is particularly bleak in its relentless vicissitudes. There’s a sense of porousness here; upon reading, the lines seem to seep into me. But, importantly, there’s a calmness, too. The recurring refrain—‘Do you see?’—sibilant and whispery, is embodied by the sea, the grass, and the wind. This is nature demonstrating the pervasive pull of awareness and awake-ness in a way that feels holistic, embodied—a far cry from the disembodiment and unease that the 24-hour news cycle generally brings. As Connor Harrison points out in the Longleaf Review, ‘News” is written in the voice of a close friend, and even in its most definitive lines, it remains open; it finds its way alongside you.’
I’m drawn to this piece for its ability to thread a challenging conceptual needle: to take a middle-road approach to maintaining conscientiousness toward the concurrent tragedies of the world, as well as the keenly attuned internal equilibrium that’s required in order to weather them. How we receive and consume this barrage of news is all in the pacing, ‘News’ seems to suggest. ‘Sorry, I switched channels. / Like a poem begins and ends / before learning to crawl on its own,’ the poem reads, before backtracking to retrace crucial steps, and to remember - in a self-aware and fittingly inconclusive conclusion - what ought to be noted and recalled: ‘You must remember, don’t you? / The cold air hitting your skin? / The hands you fell into?’
I’ve kept it somewhat brief this week because I actually also flexed my poetry-analysis muscle (as if I ever need an excuse to do so, lol) over in my weekly newsletter column for Where The Leaves Fall. If you're so inclined, you can find my words - cognitions on ‘Awe’ by poet James Crews through the lens of adrienne maree brown’s concept of pleasure activism - here.
Small things:
Abject Permanence: A gorgeous essay by Larissa Pham in Roxane Gay’s emerging writers newsletter.
A Means To Render Our Lives Believable: How do we think and practice a genuinely universal solidarity when some wars and conflicts are met with a searing silence? by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung for New Frame.
I recently read actor/director Sarah Polley’s new memoir, Run Towards The Danger, which was really great. Her interview in the New Yorker is worth a read too.
Fascinating stuff from WePresent: Mind Games: How is creativity connected to our mental health?
Finally I ate a fantastic piece of vegan carrot cake yesterday and it got me thinking about one of the big existential questions of our times: WHY is carrot cake so criminally underrated?!? Nobody appreciates it the way it should be appreciated.. Honestly, it’s a travesty. Carrot cake supremacy 4 ever.
That’s all for me today! Over and out.
Catch you next time,
Maddy