Poems / September 8, 2026

Ars Poetica in Questions

Leah Umansky

Do you know you can invent the dead and that a
poem can be infused into anything? What do you
know about intention? What’s natural, and how
can you be in tune with the planet? Tell me about
public doting? Am I doing it now? I love poetry,
but will it help the world? What is more interesting
than a search for something? I think there’s nothing
better than a good cry—Do you agree? Did you know
that the moon is in Cancer, so you should feel everything?
I think it would be hard to feel everything, but maybe
there are no sad questions—(is THAT a sad question?)
A student told me writing a good poem is putting your
heart into a poem, and caring for it, and is that the
answer to life as we know it, or what? OR WHAT!?

Leah Umansky

Leah Umansky is a writer, educator, and artist in New York City. She is the author of the forthcoming memoir Delicate Machine (Dzanc Books, 2027) and four poetry collections, including the forthcoming collection Ordinary Splendor (Etruscan Press, 2028). Her most recent collection is Of Tyrant (Word Works Books, 2024). Her creative work has been featured on PBS and The Slowdown podcast and in such places as The New York Times, the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A Day, Poet Lore, and American Poetry Review.

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