海角大神

Like millions of Americans, poet and critic Craig Morgan Teicher spends much of each day balancing the demands of family life and working in his home office. Teicher, who has published three previous books of poems as well as 鈥淲e Begin in Gladness: How Poets Progress,鈥� an acclaimed collection of essays, spoke recently about his new collection, 鈥淲elcome to Sonnetville, New Jersey,鈥� and about trends in contemporary poetry.聽

Many of the poems in 鈥淲elcome to Sonnetville鈥� were written after he and his wife, poet Brenda Shaughnessy, moved with their two children in 2015 from the borough of Brooklyn in New York to a suburb in New Jersey to accommodate the needs of their son, who uses a wheelchair.聽

While Teicher鈥檚 perspective is dark at times, the writing, which ranges from lovely to discomforting, highlights the rhythms in his family鈥檚 life and the 鈥減reciousness of tedious moments鈥� as the adults reflect on their own suburban upbringing and the challenges and opportunities their children will face.聽

鈥淚 think the experiment for me in the poems was to see if the drama of a 鈥榖oring鈥� life can be brought forward. That if I could narrow the frame enough, that something as simple as staring at a bush could become a high-stakes event,鈥� says Mr. Teicher, who wrote some of the poems last year.

What surprises him now, he notes, 鈥渋s that this book is really huddled around a very small cast of characters, just my family, and when I was working on it, I was very much thinking about what it was like to bring my family to this little house in this town in New Jersey. I had no idea that it was also going to be a portrait of a family in isolation during a pandemic.鈥澛�

Teicher, whose second collection, 鈥淭o Keep Love Blurry,鈥� featured sonnets, had begun writing in that form again shortly after the family鈥檚 move to New Jersey.聽

鈥淭he sonnet has these little formal checkpoints that you have to hit, the rhyme scheme and the rhythm,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 help but think that that鈥檚 a little bit like what moving a family to a suburb is like. In some ways, it鈥檚 a very predictable existence, and yet you鈥檙e trying to show your children the fullness and unbridled possibility of life. Trying to do it in a way that鈥檚 safe and where they can explore without being afraid.鈥�

Over the course of several months, Teicher wrote 100 sonnets; roughly 20 are included in the new book. 聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of surprising to meet that guy from all that time ago,鈥� he says.聽

One way poets experience their own books is by giving readings, going to other cities, and meeting people who鈥檝e read the book. As the pandemic continues, in-person events are not possible. Teicher will give several Zoom readings instead.聽

Yet while poets may feel constricted in some ways, poetry continues to flourish, says Teicher,聽who teaches at Bennington College and New York University and is the digital director for The Paris Review.

鈥淎 poem is little and you read it and then you get to the end then and you reread it,鈥� he says. 鈥淎 poem offers a lot of restarts and the chance to enter a new consciousness in this very portable format. In the last five years, the internet has brought poetry to all kinds of people who never would have had it and has brought all kinds of poetry to people who would never have read it.鈥�

Millennials and younger Americans have fueled that growth because they share links to websites rather than just reading books.聽

Amanda Gorman鈥檚 electrifying reading at President Joe Biden鈥檚 inauguration also excited people about poetry. 鈥淚t was amazing after the inauguration to watch the culture at large spend a week talking about a poet,鈥� he says.聽

鈥淕orman was the hottest cultural figure ... something that had never happened that way before, but it was possible because there was a robust culture of sharing poetry online and young people have taken control of how they consume literature.鈥�

Teenagers today are often writing at an extremely high level, explains Teicher, who began writing at the age of 15, after the death of his mother, and with the encouragement of an English teacher.

Those experiences made it clear to him that he loved poetry more than anything. 鈥淧oetry is a vast conversation spanning thousands of years,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a bunch of people talking back and forth. That鈥檚 really comforting and really exciting.鈥�