Poetry for Peace in a Pandemic
There’s plenty of feeling that 2020 was a time for lost hope. While it’s true most people are undergoing very difficult circumstances, one thing UChicago has taught me is that self care and radical self love are fully necessary in the most difficult of times. Poetry is especially good for peace of mind. And writing is unquestionably calming. So let’s see how to bring a bit of peace into your daily life.
Image via Elliot Duprey
What is poetry even? Megan Thee Stallion has a breathtaking answer: Educational equity, feminist sex, and calling out the haters are all an everyday purpose for the hotshot. I listen to her during high energy unapologetic hours. Each time, she transcends musical norms and tropes with clarity and purpose, fiery passion fuelling her lyrics. She’s been able to ride the waves of fame with her larger than life personality and determination. UChicago lucked out by booking her before Hot Girl Summer was released, and now campus is forever blessed by seeing her in person last winter. She brought more color and better twerking to Reynolds Club than anytime else in its history, as demonstrated by its gallery of old white male presidents.
Louise Gluck is blinding on exposure. One of my personal thought leaders (sounds religious even though it’s not? eh good poetry is that level) and greatest American poets alive, Gluck has achieved fame, respect, and distinction because of her cutting and clear voice. Her poems seem like they are separate from modern problems and outside of time and space as one critic put it, but of course the language is a curtain hiding her profundity. Gluck is accurate, in my head appearing as a longbow archer clad in white, using the tools she has to always nail the heart and essence of things. She unlocks part of your understanding of yourself, of your world, and of the order of society. It answers deep questions like poetry can.
Ocean Vuong is my superstar. He came from humble writing beginnings but now is the most fearless, most genuine, and most sensitive person who brings his full feminine and Vietnamese self into his work. One of the defining poets in coming out of the rich Asian American diasporas, we have only his authenticity, intelligence, wit, talent, and persistence to thank for the luminous, enthralling masterpieces and kind mentorship he extends to a nation. The quality of his work is certainly the best you see around. I read Ocean Vuong for beauty, for inspiration, for a gentle hand to lead me into a home, a war, an education, a life of failure and extreme success. If there was one person I would have people read in a period of heightened racism against Asian Americans, it would be Ocean Vuong. At a school that worships the written word, Ocean creates our gospel.
Suggestions: Trevor, Aubade of Burning City
At an open event with the School of the Art institute of Chicago in October Vuong was at his kindest and most introspective. Write, he told us, most of whom were under difficult circumstances. I took away one lesson. Write for happiness, for joy, for your best selves, for creation, for radical self care, for stoppering the dark spiral, to let things go, to push your comfort further, and pursue your happiness. Write to care for others and yourself. Write because you need every advantage to thrive. Writing is like breathing, to amend Scout Finch. In a year where it’s been extraordinarily hard to breathe well for multiple reasons, it’s best to take as many deep breaths as you can.
Featured image via Andrew Chang
