Vermont's poet laureate, Chard deNiord, took up a different role recently: interviewing other poets about their lives and work. The result is a book called I Would Lie to You if I Could: Interviews with Ten American Poets.
DeNiord said he realized the importance of listening to people years ago when he worked in the mental health field.
The book includes interviews with what deNiord described as "mid-career poets." In many cases, the interviews offer fascinating insight into the inner lives of people whose work often defies easy description.
One of the interviewees in the collection is the late Vermont poet Galway Kinnell, who died in 2014.
“I think that poems are more mysterious in many ways than, say, a short story," deNiord told VPR recently. "And with such verbal economy, that it’s especially a kind of ecstatic experience."
Listen above to Chard deNiord's conversation with VPR's Mitch Wertlieb.
