Poetry Fix Episode 16: Heather McHugh

Thanks for doing this! I love Heather McHugh. Two forces or objects occupying the same space at the same time is exactly it, I think, her appeal. There’s a perfect word in physics for this: superposition, meaning things entwined but neither blended nor muted. It’s something else than doublespeak, too, her liminal lights and darks between play and serium; between words as wound springs and words as windows. It’s a nervous tension she ends up giving us, which in a sleepier vein feels like negative capability. Hers is positive, as well.

Disappointing that the word c… is bleeped several times. How unfortunate but typical of what is happening out there in terms of using this word and others with pride and/or best choice for the poem. The deletion of the word ruins the discussion of the poem for me.