A Fun Interview With Major Jackson

Major Jackson is interviewed at Please Excuse This Poem, the online extension of 100 New Poets for the Next Generation, forthcoming from Viking in March. This is a fun interview series! Keep your eyes on it. For now, some Q&A from our favorite Harvard Review editor:

What was the last book of poems you read:

Urban Tumbleweed by Harryette Mullen

Your favorite motto / quote:

“Earth’s the right place for love: / I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.”

Your favorite occupation / hobby:

Playing chess with my dad.

Your idea of happiness:

Lying on a beach with my wife with a cocktail in one hand and a book in another.

Your idea of misery:

Stuck in an airplane cabin on a tarmac for three hours.

Your favorite virtue:

Acceptance

What you appreciate the most in your friends:

Loyalty

Your favorite prose authors:

Toni Morrison

Read it all at Please Excuse This Poem.