Before the pandemic, I had applied to the Summer Poetry Teachers Institute to be held in Chicago at The Poetry Foundation. Alas, a trip to Chicago to hang out with poets and poetry teachers is a dream yet to come true, but the foundation offered a viable alternative in a 3-day virtual institute last week. It was wonderful! The presentations were all professionally done, the hand-outs were well organized, and they facilitated a real time Q & A. By far the best PD of my summer.
One of the Big Essential Questions was “What is Poetry?” This was the topic of Richard Blanco’s presentation. Oh, my! Swoon. He could read poems to me all day! For today’s Poetry Friday, let’s consider this question. Here are some quotes from the conference.
Poetry is someone standing up
Galway Kinnell
and saying, with as little
concealment as possible, what
it is for him or her to be on
earth at this moment.
Poetry is a bird.
Isman, fellow institute participant
Sometimes its song is shrill,
sometimes its song is sweet.
It preens its feathers
so they shine brightly in the sunlight.
It nurtures its own
and delights all who gaze upon it.
In the comments, write your response to What is Poetry? I’d love to gather them together into a collaborative poem. And don’t forget to link up your post with InLinkz.
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Reflections on the Teche 