https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o Introducing a contemporary poet in varying forms of media! en-us 2019-05-10 12:07:50 UTC 2025-10-25 08:15:40 UTC hello@padlet.com 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361846691 2019-05-20 17:57:04 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361846691 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361846862 2019-05-20 17:57:23 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361846862 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361847143 2019-05-20 17:57:56 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361847143 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361847611 Poem #1]]> 2019-05-20 17:59:05 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361847611 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361847898 Poem #2]]> 2019-05-20 17:59:50 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361847898 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361848860 Poem #3]]> 2019-05-20 18:02:03 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361848860 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361849219 Tracy K. Smith is a famous poet as well as an educator. She was born on April 16, 1972. Smith was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, but she was raised in Fairfield, California. She went on to study at Harvard University where she joined the Dark Room Collective which is a reading series for writers of color. She received her MFA from Columbia University before going on to be a Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University from 1997 to 1999. She is the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Professor in the Humanities, and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University. Smith wrote four books of poetry. She wrote The Body's Question (2003), which won the Cave Canem prize for the best first book by an African-American poet, and Duende (2007) which won the James Laughlin Award and the Essense Literary Award. Smith also wrote Life on Mars (2011), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry as well as the poetry book known as Wade in the Water (2018). She has taught at many universities including Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York, the University of Pittsburgh, and Columbia University. Smith also hosts hosts the American Public Media's daily radio program and podcast The Slowdown. The podcast is sponsored by the Poetry Foundation. She is currently serving as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States and she lives in Princeton, NJ with her husband and their three kids. Smith is known for her use of a conversational tone in her poetry which invites the audience in, wanting to hear more. She has been awarded a great deal of recognition for her outstanding work.]]> 2019-05-20 18:02:53 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361849219 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361855498 Sources for bibliography]]> 2019-05-20 18:16:07 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361855498 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361859200 2019-05-20 18:21:11 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361859200 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361859401 2019-05-20 18:21:38 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361859401 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361862325 2019-05-20 18:27:59 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/361862325 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/362359123 Tracy K Smith discusses an interaction with a stranger who conveys her love in her poem Wade in the Water. The poem begins with the speaker hearing another person say them love them and despite not knowing them, the speaker “believed her.” Initially I am a bit confused by the context of the poem, and am curious how one is in love with a stranger. While reading I imagine that the stranger is so passionate that the other person believes in their expression for love. The speaker compares the feeling that comes across her when the stranger expressed her love to “a room where the drapes have been swept back.” When drapes are opened in a dark room, the sun overpowers the room and requires eyes to readjust. So, in comparing the feeling that came across her to the drapes being pulled back, she emphasizes how the feeling engulfed the speaker suddenly. Also, when opening the drapes, light may reveal things that were not already there. So, the speaker may be revealing that the other person brings out components in her that were hidden. Smith goes on to say that “Each feeling pierced suddenly by pillars of heavy light.” Again, Smith compares the feeling overcoming the speaker to light taking over a room. Typically, light being shone in your eyes after being in the dark, is not a pleasant feeling. So, Smith contrasts the typical love-struck feeling in describing the feeling of love as unpleasant and coming by surprise. The word choice of “piercing” reveals the feeling is not so pleasant. Smith goes on describing all of the different situations in which the speaker feels love for the other individual. She loves “throughout the performance, in every handclap, every stomp.” The ongoing extent to which the speaker feels love is revealed in claiming that the love does not stop, even in the intermissions of a show. The poem ends with “is this love the trouble you promised?” leaving the impression that the the speaker knew the stranger that was identified at the beginning of the poem. I enjoyed the poem, and the use of comparisons to light. However, the context I found confusing at times since the premise of the poem is unclear.]]> 2019-05-22 00:22:17 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/362359123 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/362362462 Tracy K. Smith describes the future from multiple perspectives in her poem Don’t You Wonder Sometimes. The poem begins by describing the stars after the sky becomes dark and how they “glisten like ice.” Typically stars are described as shining the sky and lighting up. However, ice is not necessarily bright and certainly is not very glamorous as stars appear to be. Later on the poem states “that everything lives on waiting only to be wanted back badly enough.” I had to think deeply in to this line for I initially was confused. Those things in life that are abandoned, remain part of life, yet they are wishing that they feel wanted once again. Tracy goes on to describe a time where the speaker was “blind to the future” and happy. She is relating to the innocence of childhood where people think little of their future concerns and know nothing about where their life is headed. I understand what Smith is saying in these lines for my life now is far more complicated than it once was. This life she describes in which she is “forever a child” at first appears to be very desirable for he is not concerned about death or stresses in life, but is rather living in the moment. Smith describes her childhood self as “thinking one day I'll touch the world with bare hands even if it burns.” The speaker believes that anything is possible at the is young age and is confident that her future will be full of success despite any barriers in her way. The poem goes on to describe how “the future isn't what it used to be.” I really found this line interesting because the future to me is what happens in time ahead, and can not be changed typically. Smith is relating to the idea that as people age, their perspectives of the future change and desires and goals become more complicated. There are barriers in future plans which we are blind to at a young age when we feel invincible. I found this poem easy to follow, and very enjoyable. I often think about how my future differs from my diary entries and pictures from my imagination when I was younger, so it was fascinating to hear about in writing.]]> 2019-05-22 00:39:17 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/362362462 346604 https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/362363630 2019-05-22 00:44:20 UTC https://padlet.com/346604/x15zi1lms93o/wish/362363630