Q&A with Natasha Trethewey

Have you ever stopped—?

the brave timid poet asked

—because you did not like : who you saw?

She looked at him sideways

with an uplifted chin.

No : Putting her body into it;

kind but firm.

Fierce

Mark Doty said : Brave.

Generous, I said

at the same time.

Have you ever stopped—?

The young eager poet asked bravely

—for any reason : at all? 

She looked at him squarely.

The melancholy poet stops writing;

the inspired poet stops singing;

shuns her own voice : shuns the body.

Do you read your father’s poems—

differently?  the old poet asked.

Yes, she said.