ANOTHER WORD FOR CONNECTION ARCHIVE

Limón appreciates the role social media has played for poetry. When the world seems overwhelming, a poem can refresh like a sip of cold water, offering a meaningful moment in a hectic world. Social media posts and digestible podcast episodes invite even those whose attention feels fragmented to pause. Ukranian-born poet Ilya Kaminsky’s poem “ We Lived Happily During the War,” published in 2019, went viral earlier in 2022 as the world turned its eyes to the war-ravaged nation. In 2016, Maggie Smith’s poem “ Good Bones” went viral after the Pulse nightclub shooting. And poetry is something people can turn to when their own words fail. Social media is frequently the place where people encounter poems. It’s a 21st century way that poetry circulates, a way people can feel connected to the words and to each other.

Limón’s poems tend to be short enough to be suited to the screenshot, the share. Offering listeners a wide range of poems, she explains, can help connect with different audiences. “I think being able to do a daily podcast has been really lovely because there’s so much opportunity to share really different styles of poetry,” Limón said. The podcast can also serve as a guided tour of contemporary poetry, helmed by the attuned and attentive Limón. These episodes help poetry feel approachable, something that can slip into the fissures of a busy day. With leisure time shrinking and the pandemic further blurring the boundaries between work and home, a podcast that rarely hits the five-minute mark may be as much time as many Americans can spare for literature. She describes the experience of hosting the show as “a real gift and opportunity to spread poems.” In each episode, Limón shares a brief reflection drawn from her life, then reads a new poem she has selected for the day, chosen from a variety of poets. During her tenure, Smith kicked off a weekday poetry podcast and radio show called “ The Slowdown.” It was revived in September 2021 with Limón as host. Smith, who was poet laureate from 2017 to 2019. While this will be Limón’s first walk through the door as the poet laureate, she has already followed in the footsteps of Tracy K. I signed up for something that is about trying on some level to harness the unsayable.” “I didn’t sign up for anything limited when I chose poetry. “I’m very interested in what it is to have identity be a doorway, a place where we can open up to different possibilities,” Limón told me in a conversation on Aug. Rather than resign herself to being pigeonholed, however, Limón views identity – and poetry – as an avenue to greater possibilities. Limón has grappled with the expectations that predominately white literary spaces have placed on her in poems like “ The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual.” She has also joked about her experience as a poet of color online.

Few women have filled the role, and fewer women of color still. Limón is the first woman of Mexican ancestry to be named poet laureate of the U.S. poet laureate – and the first Native American to fill the role – Joy Harjo, served for three, from 2019 until passing the baton to Limón in July 2022. The terms of the laureateship are short, just one year, though some often stay for two terms.

ANOTHER WORD FOR CONNECTION ARCHIVE

And Robert Pinsky helped build an archive of Americans reading their favorite poems. Billy Collins’ “Poetry 180” project brought a poem a day to classrooms throughout the school year. poets laureate have usually had a special interest or project: Maxine Kumin championed the work of women poets. Over time, the position has changed from one primarily advising the Library of Congress about their poetry collections to a more public-facing role. Huntington endowed the position in 1937 as the “Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.” The official title of “Consultant in Poetry” remains, but “ Poet Laureate,” the name most Americans associate with the role, was added by an Act of Congress in 1985. poet laureate is a relatively recent one. According to Limón, it was reading a Bishop poem, “ One Art,” at age 15 that jump-started her own passion for poetry.Īda Limón’s tenure as U.S. This appointment has consistently been filled by some of the most celebrated and lasting poets of their generations – Elizabeth Bishop, William Carlos Williams, Gwendolyn Brooks and many others. “Ada Limón is a poet who connects.” This was how Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden introduced the 24th poet laureate of the United States.įrom my perspective as a poet and writing teacher, “a poet who connects” is a perfect encapsulation of who the poet laureate should be – and why I see Limón as so well suited for the role.

Another word for connection