More than the torrent of data and information that is coming from an increasingly polarized and rageful culture, it’s poetry that’s enlivening our hearts. It’s poetry that takes us to a grander landscape and leads us to the wholeness of things. It helps us stand from a vantage point that…

Willis Barnstone is a poet, translator, biblical scholar, memoirist, anthologist, teacher, and painter. If we are to grasp his greatest contribution to culture over the course of his professional life, we can focus on his role first and foremost as a poet – a lover of words, both his own…

“Perhaps you’ve had the experience of being elevated by the act of reading, feeling lifted almost literally to a higher level, where the air is rarefied, and the view is vast.” writes Dean Sluyter, who, in this deep dialogue, offers a banquet of literature that we, most likely, have not tasted…

Poetry is a deep collaboration of language, music, psyche, and soul. A poet reveals to us the beauty, the sorrow, and even the humor of the world. It guides us in being ever curious and observant, helping us to notice even the smallest details of life. A ripening peach or…

Jane Hirshfield believes that poetry can play a transformative role in our lives. “What poems are doing is counterbalancing the mainstream tenor of our culture, which is to do, to be active, to be energetic and to prove one’s self… and one of the messages underlying all poems that move…

In this time of global uncertainty good poems can soften the heart and help us face another day with curiosity, wonder and hope. A good poem gives us another lens with which to view the world and helps bring what is often unseen into view. It can be the observation…

Phil Cousineau is a Renaissance man who has been able to maintain a wonder and awe about life which has stoked his creative fires for many decades. For him, the night is a companion for creativity. He describes how civilization arose from sitting around a fire in the night, “Before the…

Mackey writes both prose and poetry and has published many novels, including her historical fiction of Neolithic times, and many highly acclaimed books of poetry. She reveals her writing and creative process and how each kind of writing requires a different approach. She describes her process of “creative trance” that…

In this interview Vecchione, writer and teacher of poetry,  shares stories of her work with immigrant children and poems. Many of the struggles faced by young immigrants are the same all youth face: isolation, self-doubt and confusion. Vecchione discusses the healing power of poetry and puts a personal face on…

Jane Hirshfield points out that many people turn to poetry in times of great life transitions. She says, “You know when people fall in love, or when they lose love, or lose someone they loved, that is when they want a poem. When they get married, they want a poem. These great…