The New Yorker: Poetry cover image

Kaveh Akbar Reads Ellen Bryant Voigt

The New Yorker: Poetry

NOTE

Rhythm and Cadence for Insight

The poem is like the void, moving elliptically around centers of intensity rather than following a linear narrative. It focuses on how rhythm and cadence can lead to real insight by resolving states rhythmically. The poem intertwines various life struggles like childhood and adulthood, addiction and recovery, love life, and spiritual life, blending them together to form connections in the brain. The speaker emphasizes the importance of a poem enacting rather than describing, exploring the orbital and centrifugal nature of the lyric.

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