Jackson succeeds U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, who followed U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith as host of the podcast, which is produced by American Public Media in partnership with the Poetry Foundation. Jackson’s new role makes him something of a poetry evangelist, expounding on the possibilities that exist when we understand ourselves as united in verse. The author of six poetry collections, including Razzle Dazzle: New & Selected Poems, forthcoming from W. W. Norton later this year, Jackson recently spoke about leading The Slowdown, the spiritual qualities of verse, and how poetry helps us to understand ourselves and the world around us.
Why did you want to host The Slowdown?
This story is from the May - June 2023 edition of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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This story is from the May - June 2023 edition of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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Literary MagNet
When Greg Marshall began writing the essays that would become his memoir, Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew From It (Abrams Press, June 2023), he wanted to explore growing up in Utah and what he calls \"the oddball occurrences in my oddball family.\" He says, \"I wanted to call the book Long-Term Side Effects of Accutane and pitch it as Six Feet Under meets The Wonder Years.\" But in 2014 he discovered his diagnosis of cerebral palsy, information his family had withheld from him for nearly thirty years, telling him he had \"tight tendons\" in his leg. This revelation shifted the focus of the project, which became an \"investigation into selfhood, uncovering the untold story of my body,\" says Marshall. Irreverent and playful, Leg reckons with disability, illness, queerness, and the process of understanding our families and ourselves.
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