Q & A

This collection is focused on exploring poetry’s role as both a question and an answer. In many ways poetry can embody both the quest for truth and the truth itself. Poetry has the power to articulate many subtle truths while in the end raising just as many questions as it answers. The act of writing a poem is an act of asking. The act of writing a poem is an act of seeking. When writing a poem, the poet embarks on a journey: a journey to the past, to the interior self, to faraway lands and alien spaces. The poet records these journeys like an adventurer keeping a log, and presents these findings on paper. A poem is an artifact, brought back from these journeys. Because the poem is presented as a result of these searchings, we could conclude that it is an answer, a conclusion to the journey, a satisfactory ending. But more often than not, the artifact raises just as many questions as it answers. The poet turns it over in her hands, discovering observations previously unnoticed. The poet is drawn into journeying back into these spaces, creating an endless cycle of questions and answers.

I conducted the Q & A project over the span of nine months. The poems contained in this collection were written as responses to actual questions posted on the online site ‘Yahoo Answers’. On this site, anyone can post questions for the rest of the community to answer. They can do so anonymously, or create a public profile. Points are awarded to those who attempt to answer questions, in order to encourage participation. The title of ‘Best Answer’ is awarded to each resolved question by the questioner, or voted on by the community.