diVERSES reKINDLED: In Conversation With Poet Major Jackson

The mountain has been climbed, the marathon ran, the book written.

Now what?

Major Jackson speaks to a state of quasi-depression, if not a full on bout, that comes with the accomplishment of a goal.

For a poet, one of those achievements that we expect to pull joy from, but often instead find the opposite, comes with the release of a collection.

His explanation makes sense—the investment has been great. The writing has been great. The reading to do the writing has been great. The waiting has been great. Great, yes in terms of positivity, but moreso in terms of significance and weight.

For a soldier conditioned to armor, what when the shield is no longer needed, the helmet a postbellum relic?

The advice I give my communication students most often has nothing to do with communication:

find more joy in journey.

There are times when achieving the goal is worse than the goal itself.

Those same times, achieving the goal is an opportunity for empowerment. The mountain beneath me lifts me to see more mountains.

At the end of the day, a first book is just an entry level requirement for book two, a tenth book for book eleven.

Who cares about the goal. There is joy to find in journey.

Full conversation with poets Geoff Anderson, Ariana Benson, and Major Jackson: https://youtu.be/azyqdT6qRh8