Illustration by Tim Robinson.
Do you know you can invent the dead and that apoem can be infused into anything? What do youknow about intention? What’s natural, and howcan you be in tune with the planet? Tell me aboutpublic doting? Am I doing it now? I love poetry,but will it help the world? What is more interestingthan a search for something? I think there’s nothingbetter than a good cry—Do you agree? Did you knowthat the moon is in Cancer, so you should feel everything?I think it would be hard to feel everything, but maybethere are no sad questions—(is THAT a sad question?)A student told me writing a good poem is putting yourheart into a poem, and caring for it, and is that theanswer to life as we know it, or what? OR WHAT!?
Leah UmanskyLeah 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.