Why I can't write a poem for Haiti By Kei Miller
27 Jan 2010 - 03:31 AM

I've watched the clips of the Hope for Haiti concert, and I realize that in times like these, artists give what they can give best - their art. So I've seen paintings on sale, and I've heard singles on the radio, and my own inbox is already full, requests from one organization or another asking for a story, or a poem for Haiti. Bless them. I trust they will get their poems, but not from me. I can't write an earthquake poem, just as I couldn't write a tsunami poem, or a 9-11 poem, or any poem that tries to stand side by side with a grieving world, reaching over to dab its eyes. Perhaps I think such poems are unnecessary.

8 comments latest by nicky But I find poetry boring! By Kei Miller
17 Jan 2010 - 05:21 PM

This is not something I thought I was ever allowed to admit - that I find a good deal of poetry insufferably boring! And I'm not just talking about some of the ill-considered doggerel that's out there; I'm talking about poems that everyone else seems to agree is good, and excellent, and the very best. So I worry that if I admit the truth that I don't particularly like Pound or Donne or any number of poets, living or dead, that I really am supposed to like, that my own license will be revoked; that they will think I have no taste, or that I am a fraud.

19 comments latest by Dave Sissons What kind of poet am I? By Kei Miller
14 Jan 2010 - 03:33 AM

I am mostly happy to be introduced as a Jamaican poet. This confuses and even worries some people - not the fact that I am a Jamaican poet but that I am happy to be introduced as one.

3 comments latest by David