Craft: Jay Wright

Jay Wright (b. 1935) is one of the greatest living poets we have, yet—despite support and praise from Harold “Handsy” Bloom and Helen “Vending Machine” Vendler—his readership is small. His complex, cross-cultural, and transformative poetry remains hidden in plain sight. 

Wright was born in New Mexico to mixed African-American, Irish, and Cherokee ancestry, though he has lived in Vermont for a long time. His poetry reflects the African diaspora and has a rigor and attention to philosophical exploration. Though dense and somewhat opaque, his poems are nonetheless tied to a jazz aesthetic. His poems come from the vein of Charles Mingus as much as from Hart Crane.

Jay Wright: “You will notice that as we go, there will be moments of silence. I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again, silence is also a part of the poetry. You will also notice that there will be other voices intervening in my poems.”