Poetry dialogs:
For several years now, I have been the "author" in a meet-the-author exchange with AP English high school students. They read my work as part of their poetry section, and interact on my blog -- posting comments on poems that they find engaging in some way. This dialog between us is mutually educational, giving them a chance to ask questions about authorial intention, motivations, etc. and giving me some insight into my reading audience. At the end of their poetry section, I come to their classroom to talk in-person with them. This is not a lecture, but a flesh-and-blood continuation of our textual conversations. Amusingly, the topics tend to be much more about my writing process, my development as a person, and how poetry fits into and enhances my life (whereas online, conversations tend toward analysis and to be often disappointingly impersonal). It's funny what a difference real eye-contact makes for the tenor and content of a conversation. I sincerely hope that they find something of value in these discussions -- for my part, I know that their sharp observations and probing questions reliably bring some of my best thoughts to a point of clarity, that without them might have remained pre-conscious, unrefined, or unspoken. |
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