Teaching Poetry:
Kevin Stein, Poet Laureate, Illinois
Q: At what age did you start writing?
A: My own formal studies in poetry reached their peak at Indiana University in the early 80s, where I was gifted with devoted teachers and a slew of inspiring literary pals. Still, as I tell my own students, one learns more outside of the classroom than in it. My most vivid memories of sudden revelation revolve around either the slog of my solitary labors or late-night gatherings of poet friends in coffeehouses and bars, our fresh poems unfolded from our back pockets and passed around for others’ responses.
Q: Can you share some of the inspirations for your writing?
A: Like many of my generation, I was a member of a pretty lame garage band, so my first poems were “moon/June/soon” lyrics for the band. In retrospect, however, I was primed to love of language by my parents’ dinnertime ritual of asking us kids to describe something that happened during our day. They were teaching us to write the narrative of our lives and to ponder our connection with our fellow beings. The best-told story always earned the most kudos, something every kid craves.
Q: Which writer has been the greatest inspiration to you? Who are your favorite poets?
A: Sometimes it’s merely a single word that echoes in my mind or a snippet of overheard conversation. Other times it’s what appears outside my window, say, the blood red cardinal at rest upon a branch of still-green apples. Many times it’s what I’m reading—poetry, science, history, the newspaper—or the music I’m listening to. It’s anything that snags my attention. As Malebranche says, “Attention is the natural prayer of the soul.”
Q: Which writer has been the greatest inspiration to you? Who are your favorite poets?
A: Such a question is a fair one, but it’s a little like asking a child, “Which parent do you love the most?” I’ve been influenced by numerous poets from the long dead to my contemporaries. If I read something and it takes the top of my head off, as Emily Dickinson says, then I know it’s poetry, and I want to do something like that. If pressed, I’d point to the American poet James Wright, whose work I love for its intellectual and emotional range.
Q: What are some of the challenges you’ve faced?
A: Naturally, one thinks first of the external barriers—attracting editors’ attention, building an audience, learning the ropes. But in reality the biggest hurdles lie inside oneself. By this I mean overcoming one’s innate sloth and tendency to frustration. I mean learning to see one’s nagging self-doubt as the engine that drives one’s finding newer and better ways of expression. I mean overcoming and loving the self simultaneously.
Q: What is your advice to young writers today?
A: I’d suggest the three R’s: Read, Revise, and Risk. Read everything and everybody: poetry, science, history, philosophy, and the newspapers. Most importantly, read both those you love and those who challenge your own dearest assumptions. Revise. Be one not easily satisfied. Find a community of fellow writers and seek out their opinions. Risk. You’ll grow as an artist only when you risk your emotional and intellectual life. Risk surprising yourself, or you’ll never surprise your reader. #
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