Poems and Philadelphia: Major Jackson’s Story
Whether you are speaking, reading, or writing, language can stir up powerful emotions and intelligent thoughts inside of you. Poetry is a prime example, with its stimulating rhythms and complex rhyming schemes. Although there is a significant amount of poets all around the world, there are not many who can claim to be both a published poet and an English professor. That is where Major Jackson, who teaches at the University of Vermont, comes in. As someone who is considering a career in poetry or English one day, I believed that he would be the best person to interview. I had the honor of asking him a few questions, ranging from his early life in Philadelphia to his advice for any aspiring writers or teachers out there. Quoting one of his poems, “Indian Song,” “It’s all so redolent, this wailing music, by my side, you fingering fields of light, sunflowers over earth, miles traveled, a patchwork of goodbyes.”
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Q: I read that you grew up in Philadelphia, and that the environment there heavily influenced your writing. How exactly did it influence you to consider a career in writing and English? A: Despite the presence of large numbers of people, I think growing up in a city makes a person more contemplative, more self-conscious about being human. Such an awareness and habit of thinking naturally leads to a life of reflection and writing. Also, more specifically, growing up and watching the suffering and difficulties people faced in Philadelphia such as poverty, drug addiction, violence, made me want to write my feelings and thoughts about what I was experiencing, and also to tell the stories of people who overcame such hardships. Q: What is one of your favorite poems that you have written, and why? A: My new favorite poem is “On Disappearing,” which appeared online last autumn at the Academy of American Poets website. A woman in London who had recently lost her husband somehow was sent the poem. She wrote about how the poem helped her in a time of grief. I was moved to read that something I wrote became meaningful to someone thousands of miles away. That’s what it’s about. Q: Do you have any advice for young people pursuing a career in writing or teaching? A: This may sound cliched, but to be a writer, one must read a lot of books, and to listen. If a person is to become a writer, they need to be familiar with the important conversations of our times and yesterday. Q: What, in your opinion, is the best part about being a teacher? A: I love sharing my passion for poetry, especially to young people because I know they are going through many changes, mainly on the inside, and writing and reading poetry is just the antidote for their biggest questions and the path to making discoveries about themselves and others. Q: I also read that your biggest inspirations to write poetry were “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, by Robert Frost, and several poems by Langston Hughes, and they all have specific messages. What do you think is the message you are trying to send out with your writing? A: To be human is to love all that we are, and that the quest towards enlightenment begins with the self. Writing poetry allows me to discover and understand who I am, and in doing so, it becomes more difficult for me to treat others any less than me because I can empathize and get closer to their experiences by knowing my own. |