In Defense of Poetry

October 2, 2001



The Event
In Defense of Poetry
Comments and Responses


In the wake of 9/11, the 3rd Annual Campbell Corner Poetry Contest Reading turned into a defense of poetry.
"In Defense of Poetry" was held in the pillow room of the Esther Raushenbush Library at Sarah Lawrence College.




Faculty, staff, alumnae/i, and students shared work that drew on the power of poetry to provide continuity and courage in the face of suffering, war, and conflict.


"We're going to go on, at Sarah Lawrence, about the business of trying to write good poems and stories and non-fiction. We're going to go on teaching because art makes us a little more human, a little more alive, and much less alone. We're going to keep writing because writing is an act of creation, by nature a life-affirming act, and therefore an act that is the opposite of death and cruelty or injustice."

---Writing faculty Thomas Lux and Suzanne Gardinier, as reported in the Autumn 2001 issue of "Sarah Lawrence Magazine"