Poet interview series for NaPoWriMo
Poet/Author Danez Smith (Minneapolis, Minn.) discusses poems, the next generation of poets, fellowships, and the concept of mortality.
If you tell Danez Smith that he’s a leading voice in today’s spoken word, he won’t believe you, even telling him that he’s the present-day James Baldwin might only get you a gasp of disbelief, and that’s because the 25-year-old poetry phenom is simply existing in his work, rather than existing because of it.
“Am I a leading voice? That’s humbling,” Smith said. “I don’t feel like such a thing, because I am still young and learning and fucking up and growing. I hope that whatever influence I have on spoken word poets, who participate in slam or not, is to be unafraid of the page, of giving the poem the voice it needs to live even when your breathe is not present or passed on.”
Smith, who first called himself a poet at age 14, is the author of [insert] boy (YesYes Books, 2014), and a forthcoming collection from Graywolf Press (2017). He is also a recipient of the 2014 Ruth Lilly & Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship, a Cave Canem Fellow, a member of Dark Noise Collective and a two-time Individual World Poetry Slam finalist (2011 and 2014).
Because of his fellowship opportunities, Smith has been able to dedicate the majority of his time to writing poetry; something he said has been weird, as it allows him so much free time.
“I’m glad I had this experience, and to be 25, and in a space where you can ask yourself questions, but not force an answer has been great,” he said.
“How rigorous is it? As much as I want it to be. I’ve read more than ever and completed two manuscripts, plus some more poems. I’ve started playing with prose slowly but surely as well.
Reared through the youth poetry scene himself, Smith, who was once employed as a major component of Youth Speaks – a national organization committed to empowering youth voices through spoken word and the craft of poetry – said that while no longer officially a youth development worker, his work with the next generation never ceased to exist.
“I’m a firm believer that the duty of those older is to train up those younger and be a resource to their brilliance and passion,” he said.
“[Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam] made poetry something tangible and vital for me. It was through BNV and the local communities that populate the network that I found communities, mentors, and peers that keep me writing to this day.
I wouldn’t call myself a former youth development worker, even though that is not what brings home the turkey bacon at the moment. But working with youth reminds me of the curiosity and possibility in the young mind, in the humility of being new. I try to remind myself that I am everyday new to this craft so that I never think of anything as fixed.”
And with that notion, Smith reveals how he truly lives the messages in his poetry. Such messages can be found in his poem “Today”, featured on the Button Poetry YouTube page, garnering more than 30,000 views – it’s a piece where he toils with the idea of things not existing outside of the present moment.
Outside of poetry he admits that his thoughts are on mortality these days.
“Mortality is a good, complicated thing and I’m learning to be a student of it more every day.
HIV is ‘no longer a death sentence’ if you can afford it and/or have access to the resources to live such a life, let’s be clear about that,” he continued, referencing the main topic of his poem. “That ‘the crisis is over’ language is very much a language of the privileged. But I’m living fuller and hopefully in ways that will allow my time on Earth to be longer. I’m out about it when I need to be out - it’s not a secret by any means.”
Smith will be going on to pursue an MFA this fall at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. His plans are to have time to write, a community to grow in, mentorship, interaction with great students, and a foundation to, maybe, move forward in academia.
Everything – one day at a time… But before the day is through, he said he hopes to continue producing and reading great work by all poets/authors, especially work by fellow young, diasporic folks – a way to ensure that the messages live on forever.
“I think that the book is one of the most perfect artifacts we can create, as long as language stays being language, and putting into the hands of young black people, artist or not, is a revolutionary and necessary act,” he said.
“There is no shortage of black artists creating locally, nationally, and internationally, so getting the written work to those people is what we must concern ourselves with if we want these black literary traditions to live on.
Poetry is a healing ritual for a lot of people, but if we move beyond poetry as a catalyst for personal rapture and begin to think of ourselves as practitioners of the craft, that necessitates that we concern ourselves with craft.”
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