Zoe and Alisha, hello!
I've been thinking about authors more than poems. I've been thinking of how to cast a wide cultural net. And I've been thinking about poems that will inspire discussion, not merely because I'm familiar with them, but because their imagery or idiom is fresh and exciting. Accordingly, here is a tentative syllabus of authors! (For some of them, I do have specific poems in mind.)
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beginning February 2022
1: Seamus Heaney; Lucille Clifton; Gary Soto
2: William Blake; Emily Dickinson; Margaret Walker
3: Anna Swir; Ted Kooser or Jane Kenyon; Countee Cullen
4: Ayin Hillel; Hala Alyan; Bei Dao
5: Hilary Sallick? Jill McDonough? Christie Towers?
6: Lisa DeSiro; Tim Seibles; Dan Skwire
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We can credit my poetsister Hilary Sallick with suggesting Lucille Clifton's "The earth is a living thing" and Gary Soto's "Oranges" --- but I may use a different Soto poem.
And I think that three poems a week should more than suffice. Hoping my Basic Zoom account suffices to provide 60-75 minutes of "class time" since it'll be one-on-one. Or I might upgrade, and see if a poet I know (Hilary or Mary) could join us!
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All input from the two of you is OF COURSE welcomed --- and indeed sought!
Tommy
