Wendy Barker: The Human Connection of Poetry

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Today, I’m joined by a multi-awarded American poet Wendy Barker. She is currently Poet-in-Residence and the Pearl LeWinn Endowed Chair at University of Texas in San Antonio, where she has been teaching creative writing since 1982.   

Soft-spoken and beautifully articulated, Wendy is kind to me and my minimal knowledge of poetry. Her seventh full-length collection of poems, Gloss, has been released in January this year. 

She teaches me what poems are used for, how the creative process of writing a poem works, and the importance of having people to give you feedback.

Having written a number of poetry books and won countless prizes, Wendy shares with us some of her immense knowledge about poetry, and reads us some newly released poems that she has recently written...

“I want my poems to reach human beings as well as to be respected by the poets I respect. I want them to have a human connection.” - Wendy Barker  

Time Stamps:    

01:47 - How Wendy's teaching is being affected by the pandemic. 
05:03 - What poetry’s used for and how it’s changed over time. 
10:22 - The importance of having people that can give you feedback. 
13:16 - Co-translating poetry and the difficulty involved in this. 
16:59 - How Wendy Barker starts her writing process. 
25:54 - Where Wendy is from and what her childhood was like. 
30:24 - The stages of editing you have to go through before publishing a poem. 
32:15 - Who Wendy writes her poems for. 
37:21 - Wendy reads us two short poems. 
39:37 - A longer poem about chocolate and Wendy’s interest in food. 
44:37 - Wendy’s final poem ‘Praise of Stumps’. 
48:27 - How to find Wendy’s poetry online. 

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