April is National Poetry Month! Even though poets and poetry-lovers will find any excuse to celebrate poetry, it’s fabulous to have 30 days set aside, especially since there’s a popular idea that poetry is dead. So even though we love poetry every day, let’s treat April as a feast-month, a sacred space to honor poetry! … More April Poet Profiles: Emily K. Michael
The December issue of Wordgathering is out, and it contains two of my poems: “Wordbomb” and “Old Music.”This is the 36th issue of Wordgathering, rounding off its eighth year as an online publication. Just above the text of each poem, there is a link to the audio version, which I recorded. I love that this … More Two Poems Published!
The young writer struggles with self-definition. So many incredible reputations hover above us, casting sparks in all directions. Every established literary presence is crisp and luminous, an identity in complete control of its own labels. So I ask my poetry for this control, and it withers. I find I possess nothing worthy of a poem. … More I Ask My Poetry
“To let each impression and each germ of a feeling come to completion wholly in itself, in the dark, in the inexpressible, the unconscious, beyond the reach of one’s own intelligence and await with deep humility and patience the birth-hour of a new clarity, that alone is living the artist’s life, in understanding as in … More “Affluentia Poesis”: Meeting Poetry in the Universe of Possibility
Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing published two of my poems in their Fall 2014 issue. Read the poems here.
My essay, “Lightspending” was published in the September issue of Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature. The essay is part of a larger collection: blind writers responding to John Milton’s sonnet “On His Blindness.” Here is how the editors introduced my essay: “Michael’s essay is a narrative of personal experience. It is pegged … More Essay: “Lightspending”
May is turning out to be a literary month for me. I’ve created an account on Goodreads to keep numerical track of how many books I’m currently reading. So far, Goodreads says I’m reading 13. As I’ve listed several collections of poetry in this category – collections I read a few poems at a time – my … More Sweet Response
As a blind woman, I do not court silence. The absence of sound in the presence of other people often makes me apprehensive. With no audible messages, I’m left to wonder what others are thinking and doing. This anxiety intensifies when I stand before my students. Are my students texting? passing notes? sleeping? While they … More Fear and Form
On Friday I received the sad news that Seamus Heaney, one of my favorite poets, had recently died. I first encountered Heaney’s work eight years ago in an AP Literature class. Over two semesters, our teacher—a vivacious, knowledgeable man who always fought for the best parts in our class readings of Shakespeare—steeped us in poetry. … More Memorial for Seamus Heaney
Well, this essay was supposed to enter a contest, but it doesn’t meet the specifics. So I’ll share it with you instead! ***** Last semester, I returned home after a long day of teaching and found a large flat box on my bed. I could just make out a logo in the top left corner, … More Touching the Wild Shape of Poetry
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