
For
National Poetry Month, Indiana Poet Laureate
Norbert Krapf shares his thoughts on where words come from in a
post on the Hoosierati blog:
As part of an e-mail interview for National Poetry Month with Rosa Salter of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette,
I was asked, as Indiana Poet Laureate, to answer ten questions. The
last one produced what I think are the best results: “Where do the
words come from?”
Here is my answer: “The words come from the people you descend from,
those who made you and brought you up and taught you to read and write
and talk and communicate and how to live and conduct yourself. The
words come from the culture you live in, they come from the books you
read and the songs you listen to, but if you learn how to listen to the
deepest part of yourself, that’s where the most important words that
are yours come from, in your unique combinations and rhythms, in what
is your verbal DNA! And words come from beyond and through you, if you
learn how to put yourself in the right place and develop a keen pair of
ears, good eyes, and an open heart.” Continue reading...
Norbert Krapf was Professor of English at Long Island University from 1970 to 2004. He is the author of two IU Press books: Bloodroot and Invisible Presence.