Major Jackson on the poetics of time (and how best, in life, to spend it)

“The act of creating is a way of stopping time.” – Major Jackson

Major Jackson (@Poet_Major) is an American poet, professor, and author of four collections of poetry: Roll Deep, Holding Company, Hoops, and Leaving Saturn. He currently serves as the Poetry Editor of the Harvard Review.

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Major discuss the changing perception of time and how creation leads to a deeper experience of time (2:00); poetry and the lessons it teaches us about life (23:00); and time as prison, the way we claim our freedom, and art as a means toward transcendence (39:00).

For more information on Major, check out his website at http://www.majorjackson.com/

Poems and books mentioned:

• The Gutenberg Elegies, by Sven Birkerts (book)
• “The World Is Too Much With Us” (poem by William Wordsworth)
• “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” (poem by Robert Herrick)
• “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” (Wordsworth poem)
• “On Disappearing” (poem by Major Jackson)
• “Stations” (poem by Stanley Moss)
• Into the Mecca by Gwendolyn Brooks (book)
• Jerusalem (poem by James Fenton)
• Jerusalem, by Peter Cole (essay)
• The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen (book)
• “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota” (poem by James Wright)

Notable Links:

• Paris Writing Workshop (summer creative writing course)
• Dead Poets Society (film)
• Carpe Diem (Latin aphorism)
• Walt Whitman (poet)
• Eastern State Penitentiary (former prison in Philadelphia)
• Michel Foucault (philosopher)
• True Detective (HBO TV series)
• John Muir (naturalist)
• Jack Kerouac (author)
• Croesus (wealthy king from ancient times)
• Seneca (philosopher)
• Dazed and Confused (film)
• Richard Linklater (writer and director)
• Ingmar Bergman (director)
• Cinéma vérité (documentary filmmaking style)
• Film composer Rolfe Kent on Deviate (podcast episode)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at [email protected].