Laura Kasischke Spotlighted

I take delight in skimming through the literary magazine pile every week, reading the editor’s notes, skimming through the table of contents, and seeing what’s new. In the same pile, I received a copy of The Main Street Rag (Fall 2012) and Poetry (October 2012), both of which featured a recognizable name on their covers: Laura Kasischke. In March, she was awarded The National Book Critics Circle Award for her book of poetry, Space in Chains; she has published eight books of poetry and eight novels; and she now teaches at the Residential College at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Featured on the cover of Poetry‘s 100th anniversary issue, she contributes four poems. You must read all of them, particularly “Game.” Here’s an excerpt:

I ran deeper
into the bright black trees
happily
as she chased me: How

lovely the little bits and pieces.
The fingernails, the teeth. Even
the bombed cathedrals
being built inside me.

Then, in The Main Street Rag, we get a little insight as Jane Andrews interviews her. Kasischke discusses her writing style, talks about her published pieces, and gives advice to writing students. “I think I’m a crock pot whether I’m writing poetry or fiction,” she says, “except that with fiction, I’m actively working on a piece of writing over a long period of time. With poetry, I’m only half-aware that I’ve got the crock pot plugged in and that I’m working on something.”

Make sure to check out both!