In this installment of the P.O.P series, Tom Sleigh says, “The idea that poetry will give you your body back is a deep and abiding faith that I have.” He reads his poem “Army Cats” and the poem “Exposure” by his “companion in the ether,” Wilfred Owen. Sleigh also talks about his relationship to poetry during illness and his experiences as a journalist during Lebanon’s civil war.
Produced by poet and photographer Rachel Eliza Griffiths, P.O.P (“Poets on Poetry”) is a video series featuring contemporary American poets reading both an original poem and a poem by another poet. Each poet then reflects on these poems and answers a question provided by a previous participant in the series. What results is an evolving, multifaceted conversation among poets about the art form. The Academy of American Poets has partnered with Griffiths to release the P.O.P video series on Poets.org, alongside Rachel Eliza Griffiths’s essay on the project: "Poets on Poetry: A Virtual Village of Discovery and Poetics.”
The P.O.P video series is curated and produced by Rachel Eliza Griffiths in partnership with the Academy of American Poets. Copyright © 2016 by Rachel Eliza Griffiths.