March 9, 2017
Poetry in Public: Or, Why I Leave the House
I recently returned to the Amy Clampitt House, where I’m in residence through June, after a multi-leg trip to Baltimore and Louisville. In Baltimore, I was reading for the Enoch […]
August 29, 2016
‘Is that real?’: an interview with Justin Sanders
A few weeks back, I wrote about the work of emerging writer Justin Sanders. Here, Sanders takes some time to answer questions about truth and fiction, higher education, influence, and Baltimore. I’ve […]
March 9, 2016
Poetry and Community: Events and Evidence
When we consider what enables a poem to endure, it’s easy to side with immediate fatalism and shoulder-shrugging, or opt for broad-brushed faith in long-term aesthetic exceptionalism and artistic meritocracy, without really considering the everyday […]
March 2, 2016
Different (Broad)sides
A “broadside” is, quite simply, a sheet of paper printed on a single side. Once also called a “broadsheet,” these could be typed up and posted as notices or advertising. Even early […]
February 2, 2016
“And since I’m the one writing it . . .”
After Saturday’s orientation, Monday evening was the first official joint meeting of Writers in Baltimore Schools high school students and Johns Hopkins University undergrads collaborating on the Community-Based Learning course “Poetry & […]
January 31, 2016
Crossing That Line
Yesterday afternoon was a day I’d been anticipating for almost a year — the high school students’ orientation for the joint Writers in Baltimore Schools and Johns Hopkins University Writing […]
November 29, 2015
“Merely in living as and where we live”: Part II
Last week, on a bright, blustery Baltimore morning, Joseph Harrison rang the doorbell at 32 W 25th Street, and we entered Royal Books. Specializing in first editions, the store is a book […]
May 15, 2015
Writing In and Speaking Out
Earlier this month, in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray in police custody and the community unrest and outcry that followed in Baltimore, Writers in Baltimore Schools (WBS), […]
April 30, 2015
Facing It
Today, though I stumble, as usual, I am “thinking through” my language–considering my word choices in a draft of a poem, in comments on student work, in conversations with other attendees on the steps […]
April 28, 2015
everywhere/everywhere/everywhere
I am in Baltimore and I have nothing to say. I have nothing to say because I am trying to listen. I am trying to listen to Ta-Nehisi Coates: Now, […]
April 20, 2010
On Collaboration, IV: Joseph Young & Christine Sajecki
Joseph Young and Christine Sajecki tell stories together. Their work combines layered and striking images with texts that are rich and evocative and exceedingly precise. Their latest project together is […]