prose.

“We tend to think of these words—imagination, empathy—as belonging unquestionably in the realm of the good. But imagination, for one, can be brutal.”
The Known Unknown: Persona, Empathy, & the Limits of Imagination, Harriet, The Poetry Foundaton

“When I say I want a poetry that's true, not merely factual, I suppose what I mean in part is that I'm looking for a poetry that sifts through our untruths, unwinding the narratives we've come to accept about where we live and who we are.”
Poetics of a Post-Fact Nation, Poetry & Democracy, Poetry Society of America

“I’m always taking notes. I pick up pieces from magazine articles, news stories, radio, television, movies, from conversations with strangers, from eavesdropping on the world. Then, in the quiet, I take stock.”
Writers Recommend, Poets & Writers

“Maybe diversity is the chair in the corner of a vast, white room, in which a small number of us are at times invited to sit. Maybe within that word is the presumption that the room is not ours and we’re being let in.”
Equity in Publishing: What Should Editors Be Doing?, Roundtable, PEN America

“Our very idea of which work qualifies as good and worthy is influenced by our culture’s notion of who is worthy, and who is worth listening to.”
What's in a Number, Medium for Nat. Brut

"Whether or not I choose to use my work to engage with my history, our history, with our present, our exploits, our misdeeds, that decision feels like a political one."
What We Write About When We Write About, Harriet, The Poetry Foundation

"After midnight, the city's striving starts to slow, the traffic ebbs, the buzz and the rush relent."
The Noise, The Night, Harriet, The Poetry Foundation

"Obviously, we're not in it for the money. We all know the work of poetry is worth much more than that."
Do What You Do, Love What You Love, Harriet, The Poetry Foundation

"I’m more comfortable with poetry being a landscape of shifting sand than a cement lot. I love the possibility and the multiplicity in that."
On My Metatextual Uncertainty, Harriet, The Poetry Foundation

 Interviews.

Brooklyn Magazine
"Literature can be a platform for the voices of those who have been marginalized, demonized, oppressed, and an avenue for those voices to reach others."

PEN Ten
"Anyone who promotes censorship understands the power of words."

Interview Magazine
"I like to remember that we're not all experiencing the world from the same perch—not seeing the same day—and that's one thing poetry can offer: the opportunity to see the world in a new way."

The Rumpus Poetry Book Club
"I don’t write every day. I’m a very slow writer. I try to BE a writer every day, though, and that happens in lot of ways. It’s about how I move through the world, how I observe and listen."

Indiana Review
"Poetry can say all the hard things, all the things that you aren’t supposed to say in polite conversation."

12 Questions
"I tell the truth, but I try to be kind about it."

Words without Borders: The City and the Writer
"I have to leave the city to see the sky again."

 Media.

The 10th Anniversary of the Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship, reading & conversation with Camille Rankine & Cornelius Eady at The Strand. (video)

Talus, or Scree: The Poetry & Cruelty Hotline featuring Elisa Gabbert, Eric Baus, Andrea Rexilius, Kelly Forsythe, Bill Carty, Hafizah Geter, Catherine Pierce, Camille Rankine, and Arda Collins. (audio)

Poets on Craft: Patrick Rosal & Tracy K. Smith, moderated by Camille Rankine (video)

Poets on Craft: Kazim Ali & Lyrae Van-Clief Stefanon, moderated by Camille Rankine (video)

Poets on Craft: Tina Chang & Ross Gay, moderated by Camille Rankine (video)

 

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