Contemporary writing doesn’t stand alone, isolated from the writing that came before it. In fact, our writing continues an ancient dialogue with the writing of our predecessors. That dialogue is articulated through influences older writers have had on our work. Below, from the monthly Chapter One series, are original examples of this perpetuality between past and present.
January 2022: Barbara Novack: Poetic Influences: “Thanking Mr. Cohn”
December 2021: Denise Duhamel: Poetic Influence: “On Emily Dickinson”
October 2021: Julie Marie Wade: Poetic Influence: On “Meditation XVII” by John Donne
August 2021: David B. Axelrod, with a Note by Alfred Corn: “Advice from Rilke”
June 2021: Phillip Lopate, Poetic Influence, John Keats’ “When I Have Fears”
January 2021: Denise Low: Poetic Influence: “The Womanly Lineage of Writerly Mentors”
September 2020: Eileen R. Tabios: Poetic Influences: “Angela Manalang Gloria”
June 2020: David Lehman: Poetic Influences: Ben Jonson’s “My Picture Left in Scotland”
December 2019: Mary Mackey: Poetic Influences: On John Keats’s “Negative Capability”