I feel most alive, most electric with faith, breath, and courage, when I think of God as a current that runs through all that is. Not by will or by choice. Not as a benediction but because there are laws even God must obey. Tracy K. Smith alivebenedictionbreath share on social
Losing my father made me want to find out if I could come up with a version of God or the afterlife that I could feel like was acceptable now that both my parents are in it. Tracy K. Smith acceptableafterlifefather Change image and share on social
I had written here and there about my mother in my poems. There are poems for her in my first and second books. Tracy K. Smith bookmotherpoem Change image and share on social
For years following the death of my mother, I wanted to write about her. I started writing what I thought of as personal essays about growing up as her child, but I never could finish any of them. I think I was too close to that loss, and too eager to try and resolve things, to make her death make sense. Tracy K. Smith childclosedeath share on social
For me, a poem is an opportunity to kind of interrogate myself a little bit. Tracy K. Smith biteinterrogatekind Change image and share on social
When my father died, those years when he was working on the Hubble came back to me, and it seemed fitting to imagine him as having somehow merged with the large mystery that the universe represents. Tracy K. Smith backdiefather Change image and share on social
I don't know how anyone can see the Hubble 'Deep Field' image and not feel like something else is going about its business out there. Tracy K. Smith businessdeepfeel Change image and share on social
So much of my poetry begins with something that I can describe in visual terms, so thinking about distance, thinking about how life begins and what might be watching us. Tracy K. Smith begindescribedistance Change image and share on social
I work with a lot of young people who have poems that are changing their lives, that they're eager to talk about, but every now and then when I meet someone, maybe someone of my parents' generation, and I tell them that I write poetry, they'll begin to recite something that they memorized when they were in school that has never left them. Tracy K. Smith beginchangeeager share on social
I love the sense of looking at the sad, paltry, and yet very familiar spectacle that we must make from moment to moment in our lives, and in our frenzy, as something that's as out there as alien life. Tracy K. Smith alienfamiliarfrenzy Change image and share on social