Ada Limón, the new U.S. Poet Laureate, talks about poetry's role in recording the pandemic and the last thing that made her cry.
It’s not always in the classroom. Sometimes it’s on the subway. Sometimes it’s on social media—Twitter, Instagram. That kind of access has ignited a passion, not only to read poetry, but to write it.How does it feel to become poet laureate during a wave of book-ban attempts?
It’s a very significant moment in history in which to celebrate poems from different types of people. I want to make sure that those voices are heard.I’m a big proponent of writing outside. Here, in Lexington, Ky., I write on my back porch. In California, there’s Moon Mountain. There’s a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. I used to go to the Sonoma coast as a child, and it’s a wonderful place to write.