Poetics of Magic

A few questions to consider, on your own in writing, or in discussion with others:

What kinds of things do you think of when you think of magic? Do you believe in magic? What communities or culture consider magic to be real or important? What purpose does that serve?

Write the following lists:

• 5 magical powers you wish you had
• 5 magical powers you already have
• 5 moments when you wished you could do magic
• 5 everyday objects or people who might contain magic

Read Danez Smith’s “Dinosaurs in the Hood.” What kind of magic or fantasy appears in these poems? What purpose does it serve? Have you ever wished you could re-write your story?

Read Natalie Diaz’s “No More Cake Here.” What kind of magic appears in these poems? What kind of party does Diaz imagine, and what purpose does it serve? What story does it tell about the speaker’s brother, and why might she have chosen to write a poem like this to tell that story?

Read Ilya Kaminsky’s “We Lived Happily During the War,” which imagines America’s end. What kind of magic appears in these poems? What purpose does it serve? What is true about this story despite all that is fictional about it?

Using the lists you’ve brainstormed, write a poem re-writing a time when you wished you had magic, or about what is magical in the everyday.