To mark World Poetry Month, we are bringing you a special edition of our Faculty Publication Spotlight Series: an interview with poet and creative writing course instructor Sarah Wolfson
A Common Name for Everything was published in 2019 by Green Writers Press and was awarded the 2020 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry by the Quebec Writers' Federation.
Sarah Wolfson, who joined the McGill Writing Centre as a course instructor in 2013, spoke to us about the importance of sharing her poetic craft with students, the poets she's enjoying reading during this year's World Poetry Month, and more!
1. Can you tell us about a particular poem or poet that resonated with you when you first discovered poetry? How has your understanding of poetry evolved over the years?
I think I first discovered poetry the way many of us unknowingly do: through nursery rhyme and lullaby. These are our earliest forays into the compressed, wild, musical language of poetry. Once I was attuned more consciously attuned to these qualities, I looked for them everywhere. I still love playful, lyrical writing, even in novels. In my undergraduate days, I took a workshop with a professor who assigned a poetry volume by Li-Young Lee and took us to an off-campus event to hear Lee read. The event and book were entry points for me into contemporary poetry as a serious pursuit.
In terms of evolution, I’d say my understanding is always expanding. As long as you keep reading a diverse range of poets, your appreciation of poetry’s possibility keeps growing.
2. How did you come to teach creative writing at McGill and what is the most rewarding part of sharing your craft with McGill students?
I joined the then newly formed McGill Writing Centre in 2013. Right away, we saw growing demand from students across the disciplines for courses in creative writing. At the same time, elements like narrative and voice were taking on increasingly important roles in how people communicate, even outside of creative fields. Since I have an MFA in poetry and teaching experience in this area, it fell to me to design and lead a suite of courses in creative writing.
The biggest reward is watching students enter the literary world. A number of my students professionalize in writing or writing-adjacent fields. Some move on to graduate degrees in creative writing or journalism. I’ve had the chance recently to attend literary readings by former students and see their work in print. But even if students don’t embark on a professional writing life, they leave these courses as more perceptive readers who have a deeper understanding of how stories and poems are crafted. That’s its own reward.
3. Your first poetry collection, “A Common Name for Everything” (published in 2019) explores a variety of themes, such as nature, home, and parenting. Why were these themes important for you to explore in your poems, and in what ways can poetry help us better understand the values and beliefs we hold dear?
I had quite a rural upbringing, which heavily influences my work. I always read the textures of landscapes where ever I am. As for parenting, it’s an under-represented subject in poetry, so it appeals to me to try to address it lyrically. And it’s an ever-present feature of my life, another landscape that surrounds me.
You asked about poetry helping us understand our values. That’s certainly something poetry can do. But poetry can also complicate our values, can force us to reconsider and refine our beliefs. To make the world strange so that we might see it anew. And perhaps astonish us a little in the process. I often think of Robert Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays.” The poem ends with the speaker musing, “What did I know, what did I know / of love’s lonely and austere offices?” These lines—simultaneously humble and emphatic— offer a sharp, hard-won reconsideration of parental love. I see poetry’s ability to complicate as one of its great powers.
4. Your poetry collection was awarded the 2020 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry from the Quebec Writers’ Federation. What did this recognition mean for you?
I’m deeply grateful for this award, which made concrete and lasting differences in my life as a writer. It brought me more readers, more resources, more opportunities, a greater sense of validation of the work itself. But most literary prizes could be awarded to any number of deserving writers. For that reason, I encourage readers to also seek out books of poetry (or any genre, really) that haven’t won prizes.
5. What kind of feedback did you receive from your readers, colleagues and fellow poets when you published “A Common Name for Everything”? Were you surprised to hear certain poems or themes resonated with certain readers?
Not surprised as much as gratified. I felt deeply, sometimes uncannily seen. Hearing from readers is a wonderful thing because it allows you to witness how poems reach across distances to let one small corner of your own interiority converse with the inner life a stranger. That’s a great feeling. And I have much gratitude for the reviewers who wrote so insightfully about my book, helping me see things in it that I hadn’t seen myself. And of course the feedback of colleagues and fellow poets is a privilege I hope always to return.
6. You’ve been involved in workshops and readings with Poetry Matters. Why is it important for poets and writers to share their work and guidance with their communities? In what ways do you think it helps shape or inspire a new generation of poets and readers of poetry?
Workshops and readings create community around something that is otherwise a very solitary pursuit. Much of the time I write, I’m sitting alone in a room scrawling in a notebook, clicking on a keyboard, muttering to myself, maybe even tapping out some syllables on the desk. But there’s nothing like popping one’s heads up from the desk to discover — oh — other poets exist! Other people are trying to build strange and beautiful things with words! We are not alone! And that’s encouraging, regardless of your generation.
7. What advice or resources would you suggest to students and others within the McGill community who are interested in writing their own poems or discovering poetry outside of an academic setting?
The best thing you can do is read widely. Read a wide variety of poetry including works you wouldn’t naturally gravitate toward. Interlibrary loan can help you access harder-to-find titles. Read local poetry journals—there are a number in Montreal—and look up the books of poets whose work you admire. Let one book lead you to another.
You could also join a writing workshop or attend literary readings and events. Montreal is rich with such opportunities. At McGill we have student-run journals like The Imagist and clubs like Mcsway Poetry Collective. Beyond campus, there are organizations like the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival and The Quebec Writers’ Federation, both of which offer workshops and events. Through these outlets, you’ll meet other poets and you can begin to assemble a small group of trusted readers who understand your writing goals and who can give you loving but critical feedback. But above all, just keep writing. That’s the most important thing.
8. To celebrate national poetry month, are there any poems you will be re-reading or new poets you are eager to discover that you would like to share with our readers?
One poet whose work I always return to is the late Polish Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska. If I were stuck on a desert island, I could read her work—and only her work—over and over. She’s got an effortless voice that blends humour, understatement, and wisdom. I always feel both at home in and startled by her poems. Szymborska’s work is widely available in English, and her book View with a Grain of Sand, translated from Polish by Baranczak and Cavanagh, is a great starting point for anyone wishing to discover her poetry.
Interested in taking a creative writing course at the McGill Writing Centre? Check out their course offerings here.
Sarah Wolfson is a Course Lecturer in the McGill Writing Centre. She has twenty years of experience teaching and designing courses in academic and creative writing. She is the author of A Common Name for Everything, which was awarded the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry from the Quebec Writers’ Federation. Her poems have appeared in Canadian and American journals such as The Walrus, The Fiddlehead, AGNI, TriQuarterly, PRISM International, and Michigan Quarterly Review. Her work has also been anthologized in Rewilding: Poems for the Environment and The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace & Renewal. She is currently working on a second book of poetry that considers nature in the digital age.