Jorie Graham confronts time and her own mortality in new book
Jorie Graham’s new book of poetry, “To 2040,” confronts time and mortality and the many crises shadowing what she calls “the human project.” But we still have the humanities, says the acclaimed poet and Boylston Professor of Oratory and Rhetoric. Graham emailed answers to our questions about the new book, her students, why she’s on Twitter, and more. The interview has been edited for clarity and length. Q&A Jorie Graham GAZETTE: Your work has always been informed by the personal, but the writing of this book coincided with several grave moments, including your mother’s passing, your husband’s serious accident, and your own cancer diagnosis. How did you find clarity amid all that grief and fear? GRAHAM: I had thought, after most of half a century of inquiry, I knew something about the nature of time. After all, lyric poetry’s most insistent querying regards the nature of time — how limited human time is (as lived), how...