Poetry Architecture

I first became acquainted with the idea of poetry ancestors when I read a 2015 lecture by Joy Harjo. When she talked about ancestors of poems and poetry genealogies, I immediately felt a heightened connectivity spiraling from the page, drastically expanding my experience with what was written or spoken by the poet. The connectivity is an ongoing narrative, like the all-night ceremony that confirms identity, renews spirit, and restores community.  

When thinking of my start as a guest editor for Poetry magazine, I am reminded of this connectivity. I am reminded of Harriet Monroe. I am reminded of being a woman. I am reminded of being a poet. I am reminded of the paths and people who are part of my poetry genealogy. I am also reminded of an invisible architecture: the US federal Indian policies. The one I am most connected to is the Relocation and Termination of Indian tribes initiated in the 1950s, at which time my parents were removed from the Navajo reservation to a boarding school in Riverside, California. In this way I link myself to many of the writers whose poetry genealogy began from a place of exile, or migration. Yet the LA area where I was raised was my origin, my starting point, just as the four corners area where I’ve raised my family is also my origin, another starting point. When I view writing through connectivity of place, the roots to my sense of belonging in this place called the United States have room and nourishment to thrive. This lens is adapted from my tribe’s foundational concept of k’é, viewing the world through inclusiveness, relationship.

I am now privileged to include the Poetry Foundation as part of my genealogy, to be a conduit that deepens the values behind Harriet Monroe’s “Open Door” policy: “to print the best poetry written today, in whatever style, genre, or approach.” The starting point of this new genealogy has been the privilege of getting to know Fred Sasaki, Lindsay Garbutt, and Holly Amos better. Those three have been a consistent presence at the Foundation during the reorganization. They are a vital branch of the magazine. They have been collective knowledge holders, plentiful in their generosity, mindful, courageous, compassionate. My privilege is the invitation to interpret the “Open Door” through my lens.

During my time as guest editor, I will be looking for poems that link genres and mediums, and that challenge form and function. My special calls will be for land acknowledgement poetry and prose as well as poems that center on monuments as cultural landscapes, story, and living sanctuaries that offer respite.  

I am thrilled to build onto the excellent work done by the previous guest editors. Ahxéhee’.

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Esther Belin will guest edit the June, July/August, and September issues of Poetry.

Read and submit to the Land Acknowledgment call for work.
Read and submit to the On Monuments call for work.
Read and submit to the general call for work.