The Zell Visiting Writer
Series welcomed esteemed
poet Major Jackson to the
University
of
Michigan
Museum of Art for a poetry
reading
on
Thursday
evening.
The
series
invited
distinguished
writers each semester to
present their work.
Zell
Fellow
Callie
Collins, program assistant
for the Visiting Writer
Series,
discussed
the
program’s goal of giving
the University community
a
unique
opportunity
to hear from respected
writers.
“These are incredible,
nationally
acclaimed
poets and fiction writers,”
Collins said. “We hope
that we can bring writers
who are at the top of their
fields and put them in front
of both current students
and a bigger audience from
the community who could
come out and hear writers
they wouldn’t otherwise
have the chance to hear.
She
went
on
to
discuss poetry’s unique
potential to make social
commentary,
especially
in a society rife with
political partisanship.
“I
think,
especially
right
now,
so
much
writing is attempting to
grapple with our political
situation and the way that
the world is changing, and
so dramatically,” Collins
said. “Poetry is especially
effective because it can
change so quickly, and it
can adapt so easily… It’s a
particularly good time to
listen to people who think
about how to be a human.”
Jackson,
an
award-
winning poet, began his
reading with a reflection
on poetry’s function as a
means of self-discovery.
He then read a series
of
deeply
personal
poems
which
focused
on
broader
themes
of
Black
representation
and the tropes of Black
masculinity.
After
the
reading,
Jackson took part in a
question-and-answer
session,
during
which
he reflected on his own
experience as a poet. He
began by explaining the
moment he discovered he
wanted to pursue writing
poetry professionally.
“I was writing a lot
of
poems
about
North
Philadelphia,”
Jackson
said. “I showed it to my
grandfather… He was so
proud of that poem. I saw
this poem exist outside
of my little apartment, I
saw how it existed among
my community at that
time. That was a feeling
that was quite addictive,
so much so, that I took
myself serious, and found
other student writers.”
Many of Jackson’s poems
are
location-based,
focused
specifically
on
his
hometown,
Philadelphia.
Jackson
explained that he finds
inspiration in writing
about
something
so
deeply
personal.
He
reflected on how his
writing aims to reveal
a more humanistic side
to his home city.
“For me, in a lot of
ways,
it
was
about
trying to dignify lives
in that space, trying to
remember the people
I
grew
up
with,”
Jackson said. “There’s
something
that
you
probably
shouldn’t
bear witness to at such
a young age, but, oddly
enough,
I’m
grateful
for
that
childhood
in
Philadelphia…
It
wasn’t
a
war-torn
environment,
but
that’s
what
I
am
writing
against
—
the
perception
that
there was a lot of pain
because there was a lot
of humanity, history and
culture that was passed
down.”
After the event, LSA
sophomore Joshua Jordan
told
The
Daily
how
his
passion
for
poetry
stemmed from its being
different from every other
art form.
“I enjoy poetry because
it
isn’t
so
necessary,”
Jordan said. “Every other
art form that we have
seems to be justified by
some other medium —
it’s either profitable or
it’s popular. Poetry has
always been weird and
niche, and it has stayed
that way, to some degree.”
Jackson concluded with
a reflection on how the
process of writing poetry
is inherently personal and
based on instincts.
“Every line that you
write is a note you play,
and it’s a note you play
that has to feel right,”
Jackson said. “The words
are there, but the shape
is not there. That’s a
kind of restlessness that
I think we all should
cultivate
inside
of
us.
That restlessness is really
dependent on how much
you are going to lean in
on yourself not to do easy
things.”
2 — Friday, February 15, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
HANNAH SIEGEL/Daily
Every line that you
write is a note you play,
and it’s a note you play
that has to feel right.
The words are there,
but the shape is not
there.
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Award-winning poet reflects on themes
of Black representation, masculinity
Zell Visiting Writer Series welcomed Major Jackson for a reading at the UMMA
MADELINE MCLAUGHLIN
Daily Staff Reporter