Podcast Summary: “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe” by Elizabeth Alexander

Podcast: On Being with Krista Tippett
Episode Date: June 21, 2024
Guest: Elizabeth Alexander (poet, professor, and cultural leader)
Theme: Replenishing Wisdom through Poetry

Episode Overview

This episode of On Being presents Elizabeth Alexander reading her piece “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe.” In her textured, resonant poem, Alexander explores the heart of poetry as a vessel for deep human experience and inquiry. Rather than a traditional conversation or interview, the episode centers on Alexander’s voice and insight, guiding listeners into the transformative and idiosyncratic role of poetry in individual and collective life.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Essence and Nature of Poetry

• Poetry as Individual & Universal:
  Alexander begins by highlighting the idiosyncratic nature of poetry—its uniqueness as both personal art and a collective human pursuit.

  “Poetry, I tell my students, is idiosyncratic. Poetry is where we are ourselves, though Sterling Brown said every I is a dramatic I.”
  (00:15)

• Every ‘I’ is Dramatic:
  Quoting poet Sterling Brown, Alexander reminds listeners that the voice of the poem is at once intimate and performative, wrestling with the authenticity of the self and the inherent drama of self-expression.

2. The Materiality and Everydayness of Poetry

• Poetry in the Ordinary:
  Alexander finds poetry not just in grand themes but in “the dirt in the corner, over here on the bus,” emphasizing poetry’s presence in everyday life and its rootedness in life as it is lived.

  “Digging in the clam flats for the shell that snaps, emptying the proverbial pocketbook. Poetry is what you find in the dirt in the corner over here on the bus.”
  (00:24)

• Finding Divinity in Details:
  She speaks of “God in the details,” positioning poetic attention as a spiritual practice that connects the mundane with the divine.

  “God in the details, the only way to get from here to there.”
  (00:30)

3. Rejecting Cliché and Sentimentality

• Poetry Beyond Comfort:
  Alexander refutes the reduction of poetry to simplistic or sentimental themes, rejecting the expectation that poetry should be “all love, love, love and I’m sorry the dog died.” Instead, she insists on poetry’s ability to express the truth, pain, complexity, and vibrancy of human feeling.

  “Poetry—and now my voice is rising—is not all love, love, love and I'm sorry the dog died. Poetry.”
  (00:35)

4. The Human Voice and Mutual Attention

• Poetry as Human Connection:
  At its core, Alexander frames poetry as a space where the human voice matters most.

  “Here, I hear myself loudest is the human voice and are we not of interest to each other?”
  (00:41)

  This closing invocation lifts up the idea that poetry, and by extension all creative inquiry, ultimately draws us into more attentive relationship with one another and ourselves.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Poetry, I tell my students, is idiosyncratic. Poetry is where we are ourselves, though Sterling Brown said every I is a dramatic I.” (00:15)
• “Digging in the clam flats for the shell that snaps, emptying the proverbial pocketbook. Poetry is what you find in the dirt in the corner over here on the bus.” (00:24)
• “God in the details, the only way to get from here to there.” (00:30)
• “Poetry—and now my voice is rising—is not all love, love, love and I'm sorry the dog died. Poetry.” (00:35)
• “Here, I hear myself loudest is the human voice and are we not of interest to each other?” (00:41)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:02 – Elizabeth Alexander introduces and begins “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe”
• 00:15 – Defining poetry’s idiosyncratic and dramatic nature
• 00:24 – Exploring poetry in ordinary, grounded experience
• 00:30 – The spirituality and detail-orientation of poetry
• 00:35 – Dismissing sentimentality in art
• 00:41 – The poem’s conclusion: poetry as vessel for humanity’s voice and connection

Tone and Style

Elizabeth Alexander reads with warmth, authority, and a gentle insistence on poetry’s depth and truth-telling power. The poem is both an invitation and a challenge: to honor both the beauty and the reality of life in all its complexity, and to acknowledge the ways poetry can help us pay better attention—to the world, to each other, and to ourselves.

Summary Takeaway

This brief but powerful episode encapsulates the heart of On Being’s ongoing inquiry: how words, art, and shared reflection become a lifeline in uncertain times. Alexander’s poem becomes not only ars poetica—a meditation on poetry itself—but also an invocation for all listeners to be more fully human, more wholly present, and more genuinely engaged with one another.