An Avenue to Tracy K. Smith

In today's deep dive, we will be taking a look at two poems from Smith's 2018 collection Wade In The Water : "Declaration" and "Urban Youth." Declaration He has                 sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people   He has plundered our—                                              ravaged our—                                                                            destroyed the lives of our—   taking away our­—                                   abolishing our most valuable— and altering fundamentally the Forms of our— In every stage of ...

  Tracy K. Smith’s poem "Unrest in Baton Rouge" from her collection Wade in the Water  was written in response to the photograph above by the same name. Here, Ieshia Evans offers her hands for arrest as she protests outside the Baton Rouge, La., police department after the death of Alton Sterling in July 2016. Sterling, 37, had been shot multiple times at close range by a police officer. The shooting was captured on video and widely shared on the internet. (Source: Princeton University) Learn more about this photograph and other pieces by Bachman  here . Unrest in Baton Rouge after the photo by Jonathan Bachman Our bodies run with ink dark blood. Blood pools in the pavement’s seams. Is it strange to say love is a language Few practice, but all, or near all speak? Even the men in black armor, the ones Jangling handcuffs and keys, what else Are they so buffered against, if not love’s blade Sizing up the heart’s familiar meat? We watch and grieve. We sleep, stir, eat. Love: ...

Episode 286: How We Programmed the Apocalypse Episode 282: Waiting for Happiness Episode 272: Double Dutch Episode 263: Her Daughter's Eyes Episode 253: The Voyage Nowhere Episode 246: On Election Day Episode 242: Falling from the Roof of the Free World Episode 235: Body and Soul Episode 228: Hair Episode 205: Music from Childhood Episode 199: Small Kindnesses Episode 186: Directions To Finding You, Or Maybe Just An Inferior Prayer Episode 140: To the Thawing Wind Episode 131: I Loved You Before I Was Born Episode 110: We Lived Happily During The War Episode 102: Love Poem Episode 81: Parable of a Firstborn Episode 71: Naomi Episode 58: The Singing School Episode 39: Walking Home Episode 24: A Talk with My Grandson, Age Six Episode 17: Woman on Cell Phone Dragging an Empty Carter Through Washington Square Park Episode 12: Hair on Fire Episode 6: Brokenheart: Just like that Episode 1: 564 park avenue

 Listen to 5 poems from Tracy K. Smith's newest collection of poetry Such Color "Bee on a Sill" "We Feel Now a Largeness Coming On" "Mothership" "Some Trees" "Soulwork"

Listen to 6 poems from Tracy K. Smith's award-winning collection of poetry Wade in the Water "Garden of Eden" "Declaration" "New Road Station" "Unrest in Baton Rouge" after the photo by Jonathan Bachman "Ash" "An Old Story"

Welcome to the first Tracer Workshop! In these workshops, you will learn about specific techniques, stylistic choices, poetic decisions, etc. that Tracy K. Smith frequently uses and makes throughout her several books of poetry. I have “traced” such techniques across all of the collections that I have read thus far and will be sharing my findings, observations, and commentary with you via these workshops.  This first workshop deals with the infamous Smithian “It,” which refers to Smith’s ambiguous use of the word “it” as a means by which to convey a singular idea across one individual poem, or to convey a larger, deeper, and more complex and metaphorical concept across several poems in a collection in order to reveal a greater truth. In Symposium class, this Smithian “It” has been a great source of friendly, intellectual debate, with peers and I going back and forth on what we think the “it” in a certain circumstance represents: Is it the universe? Is it some existential being that ...

 In Symposium class, we have been diving deeply into Tracy K. Smith's Pulitzer-Prize winning third book of poetry Life on Mars,  which explores a vast array of different topics and themes that, at large, make up a discussion about the human experience and human existence. With a myriad of allusions to David Bowie, which can be seen in the titular "Life on Mars," as well as many other pop culture references interspersed throughout, this collection serves as a vehicle to a more complete understanding of the universe. Smith in these poems envisions a sci-fi, dystopian future that is devoid of any true threats and dangers; wonders about the dark matter of our universe that serves to keep people both closely connected and also ever distant; and contemplates her relationships, both with those around her and those who have passed, specifically her relationship with and connection to her father, who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope and was the main factor in Smith's growi...