from Smithsonian.com
The November issue of Smithsonian magazine features an article in the form of an epic poem. I think it is an inspired idea. The notion of a poem being able to illustrate the facts as well as a piece of prose and at the same time letting itself sing - resonates with a just-right feeling. It also strikes me as a way a classroom teacher might approach a poetry unit; taking a student's last "research paper" and having them remake it into a piece of nonfiction art: a poem.
(Similarly, another article in that issue features song-writer Rosanne Cash. The lyrics of one her songs is annotated in the margins with the various historical references that are the basis of selected lyric lines: nonfiction and art again.
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