“A Line Will Take Us Hours Maybe:”Craft and Inspiration from the Ethnography of Poetry

Abstract

In this article, I think through questions of craft and inspiration in the creation of poetry. My interests are in the ways that languages, individuals, and cultures are intertwined. I take an ethnographic perspective on the question and a comparative approach as well. I juxtapose my work with Navajo poets with work on Afghan poets, Yemeni cassette poets, Israeli poetry workshops, and Bergamasco poets. I attend, where possible, to the views of specific poets on the relationship between craft and inspiration. With Navajo poets, I try and provide enough background to place their views in a context of a Navajo framework of meaning and moral responsibility. The goal is to begin to understand the creating of poetry as social practice. The conclusion places this work within a broader concern of a humanities of speaking approach.