Wang Ping on Poetry

At a recent zoom reading/talk, Chinese poet Wang Ping made these comments, which I thought worth sharing:

“Poetry is the bone marrow of language. It forces us to constantly rethink, who am I? Why am I here? What is my past and what is my tomorrow?”

“Poetry does not belong to a few ritics or people who give out awards. It belongs to all of us.”

“Poetry is the ultimatte tool for self-explanation.”

“Poetry erases the borders of time and space.” She has an interest in quantum physics and believes the two disciplines are highly related.

“We put two things together–and the seeming unrelated things become entangled. That is metaphor.”

Her advice to poets: “Break the linear. Break the logic. Go like a spiderweb. Go collage.”

“When we pay attention, when we focus, life becomes a poem. Every budding flower, every blade of grass. — That’s why I love Walt Whitman….  We write poetry. We walk poetry all the time.”

The Song Is…

Marianne Szlyck’s blog, The Song Is.., features me with four poems, two from Ghost Light, one a reprint, and another a small poem (with a long title) that I hope helps divert you from your own pain and drama if only for a moment. 

 

“Bone Depot”

Trouvaille Review will be publishing “Bone Depot” (which also appears in GHOST LIGHT) on September 12. This one bridges the gap between my speculative and non-speculative work.

New Acceptances

One of my rare instances of a formal poem, “Hospice Sonnet,” has been accepted for the September issue of Not Very Quiet; and “Canvas,” “Act V,” and “Late Afternoon in Socrates Sculpture Park” have been accepted by Newtown Literary. 

New poetry book out from Alien Buddha Press!

Delighted to announce that my new book, “Ghost Light,” a non-speculative quarantine journal in verse (but not solely about the coronavirus), has just hit the internet. You can order a copy from you know who for $10.44 at this link: 

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GFX3NM2/ref=sr_1_17?dchild=1&qid=1598129395&refinements=p_27%3ASandi+Leibowitz&s=books&sr=1-17&text=Sandi+Leibowitz

 

Big news!

Thrilled to announce that “Ghost Light,” my collection of poems centered on the pandemic and recent events, will soon be published by Alien Buddha Press. Thank you, Red Fochs, for this tremendous opportunity!