The Life of a Poet with Jeffery Berg

Jeffrey, as we continue, I don't know if you felt it, but I feel like I have trouble talking about poetry.

It's something that I'm not used to talking about.

And I wanted to talk to you about that.

Sure.

Because also when I did the 50th episode and Joe asked me that question and I said, I feel I haven't covered poetry yet in the podcast.

I had quite a few people come to me and said, I know, poetry is so hard.

So I want to talk about that.

How should we approach poetry? How should we breach this barrier thinking that poetry is hard?

I would think about what draws you to reading in the first place.

And...

Yeah, I would ask you that question, actually.

What draws you to text in the first place?

I tend to read mostly nonfiction.

So I, like, for example, just last night, I finished Debbie Harry's autobiography, and I downloaded a book about Marie Cassar in her times, and I downloaded another book about Rose Valland, who was...

A French art historian during the Second World War who basically single-handedly saved all of France's national art collection.

So yeah, I'm drawn to nonfiction.

I'm drawn to, you know, fascinating stories, a lot of it dealing with art.

So that's my answer to your question.

No, that's a good...

I think there's a lot of fascinating stories and a lot of poetry.

And, you know, there's a lot of poetry out there.

There's so many different styles.

There's so many different modes that people are writing in.

So for me, reading David Trinidad and Denise Duhamel, they were kind of my first poets that I read, were using pop culture in interesting ways in their work.

And, you know, I had read poems in high school, but I never felt connected to what I was reading.

Jeffrey, as we continue, I don't know if you felt it, but I feel like I have trouble talking about poetry.

It's something that I'm not used to talking about.

And I wanted to talk to you about that.

Sure.

Because also when I did the 50th episode and Joe asked me that question and I said, I feel I haven't covered poetry yet in the podcast.

I had quite a few people come to me and said, I know, poetry is so hard.

So I want to talk about that.

How should we approach poetry? How should we breach this barrier thinking that poetry is hard?

I would think about what draws you to reading in the first place.

And...

Yeah, I would ask you that question, actually.

What draws you to text in the first place?

I tend to read mostly nonfiction.

So I, like, for example, just last night, I finished Debbie Harry's autobiography, and I downloaded a book about Marie Cassar in her times, and I downloaded another book about Rose Valland, who was...

A French art historian during the Second World War who basically single-handedly saved all of France's national art collection.

So yeah, I'm drawn to nonfiction.

I'm drawn to, you know, fascinating stories, a lot of it dealing with art.

So that's my answer to your question.

No, that's a good...

I think there's a lot of fascinating stories and a lot of poetry.

And, you know, there's a lot of poetry out there.

There's so many different styles.

There's so many different modes that people are writing in.

So for me, reading David Trinidad and Denise Duhamel, they were kind of my first poets that I read, were using pop culture in interesting ways in their work.

And, you know, I had read poems in high school, but I never felt connected to what I was reading.