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Two Poet Interviews and Predictions on Where Intellectual Life is Going (From the Notebook #7)

First, here are a couple poet interviews via the online magazine Only Poems. Both interviews include links to the poet’s work, as well as links to their inspirations.

An interview with poet Molly Zhu, covering prose poetry, using the third person to take the poem further and write about your alter egos, and poem as mirror, among other topics.

Another interview with Kathryn Hargett-Hsu on using poetry as a way to negotiate one’s neuroses, details about her slow process, fighting against binaristic thought, and the art of ending a poem.

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These two articles are about the humanities in general, rather than poetry specifically. Still, I thought they were relevant to poets and this site’s audience. Both touch on new choices people are making (or will be making) as our world changes, and how people are following their own paths into themselves.

“Deep Reading Will Save Your Soul” – This was interesting for its commentary on the rise of intellectual communities independent of colleges and universities, like the type I’m working on nurturing at Ah – the Sea. I disagree with the author and the publication on some peripheral points (I would argue that rather than university diversity initiatives being inherent enemies to deep reading, listening with an open mind and heart to what those of diverse backgrounds are telling us is important for being able to truly understand and best apply the works from the Canon). However, it was heartening to know that others are feeling similar urges to read free of the agendas that play a primary role in organizing society, and listen to an inner voice.

“A Bull Market in the Humanities” – Relatedly, this article put forth the argument that with the advent of AI, we’re going to see a de-emphasis on the skill of “calculating thought” and a rise in people who are good at “meditative thought” in the job market. “I think that those who are able to give expression to and speak to the deepest desires of the human heart will be the voices the world needs most.” Wishful thinking for poets? Maybe, though my own interactions and experiments with AI have left me with a greater understanding of the value of our humanness. It makes sense to me that with machines increasingly able to handle the calculative thought, we’ll collectively turn towards the humanities.

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