Mirror/Blossom/Urn/Collage (Conversation + Q&A)

Does a poem hold a mirror up to nature? Offer a window into the soul? Does its form emerge organically or fill a pre-determined shape? Is it a narrative, a melody, a collage? Tyehimba Jess, Aurielle Marie, John Murillo, and Charles Simic discuss how what we think a poem should be or what we expect one to be shapes our ideas of what a poem is or might be and how and what we write. It's also about the flip-side of that: what challenging, questioning, testing those assumptions might lead us to as both readers and writers. After the pre-recorded conversation, the poets engage in live Q&A with the Festival audience. Moderated by Grisel Y. Acosta.