Schemes, Dreams, and Some Thoughts on Poetry
Poetica ex Machina
Toni Morrison scholars have had a glorious feeding frenzy dissecting the relationships and historical contexts of Beloved (1987). Still, there’s one element of this ghost story that deserves more attention: the surging, sluicing, wondrous poetry conveying the thoughts of the dead and the living as the novel moves toward its denouement.
Philip Levine’s “Milkweed”
I first read Philip Levine in a poetry writing class when I was an undergrad at the University of Virginia. Professor Charles Vandersee assigned a bouquet of books by contemporary poets, including Levine’s 7 Years from Somewhere, Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich, The House on Marshland by Louise Glück, and Field Guide by Robert Hass—all marvelous and enduring volumes.