News & Poems

Writing a poem is unpredictable. A poem may be delivered by the muse to receptive ears within hours. These are a gift! Another poem may take decades to complete. Once completed, a poem's destiny is uncertain; it may never be heard by anyone other than the poet's sleepy cat or tolerant friends. Very few poets attain such stature that they have a ready audience for their work.  

Journalists, on the other hand, usually work quickly and know their work will be widely read. Their stories are archived.

Mary Akers, editor of r.kv.r.y. quarterly, invited journalist Matt Weiser and me to have a conversation about the processes of writing news and poems. Click here to read the exchange. Mary has a field for comments if you want to weigh in.

Eliza Griswold is a contemporary poet and journalist.