Thank you, thank you, thank you. Yesterday I listened to these gorgeous essays by Jericho Brown... they're about suicide and joy, to say the least (https://tinhouse.com/podcast/tin-house-live-craft-talk-jericho-brown-on-suicide-joy/). When he quoted Anne Sexton's final words ("Poetry, after all, is the opposite of suicide.") I felt like omg! That's it! That's it! That's the whole thing -- the authentic symbols that, as you said, both hide and reveal at once. That's the location of poetry. The unspeakable place BETWEEN...word to Shelly Rambo (!!!!!!!) I hope you'll check out Jericho's talk/essays. They struck me as being deeply in conversation with Shelly Rambo and the arc of the Offerings reaching all the way back to the December 2021 Offering (specifically yr Bly quote: certain kinds of language are nets, and we need to use the net actively, throwing it out. If we want our witch back, we write about her; if we want our spiritual guide back we write about the spiritual guide rather than passively experience the guide in another person). I think you'll enjoy Jericho! - Lauren
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Yesterday I listened to these gorgeous essays by Jericho Brown... they're about suicide and joy, to say the least (https://tinhouse.com/podcast/tin-house-live-craft-talk-jericho-brown-on-suicide-joy/). When he quoted Anne Sexton's final words ("Poetry, after all, is the opposite of suicide.") I felt like omg! That's it! That's it! That's the whole thing -- the authentic symbols that, as you said, both hide and reveal at once. That's the location of poetry. The unspeakable place BETWEEN...word to Shelly Rambo (!!!!!!!) I hope you'll check out Jericho's talk/essays. They struck me as being deeply in conversation with Shelly Rambo and the arc of the Offerings reaching all the way back to the December 2021 Offering (specifically yr Bly quote: certain kinds of language are nets, and we need to use the net actively, throwing it out. If we want our witch back, we write about her; if we want our spiritual guide back we write about the spiritual guide rather than passively experience the guide in another person). I think you'll enjoy Jericho! - Lauren