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PhD Candidate Jay Ritchie on his latest book "Listening in Many Publics"
Published: 3 February 2025
Jay Ritchie, PhD Candidate in the Department of English, spoke to the Faculty of Arts about his newest collection of poems, shortlisted for the Quebec Writers鈥� Federation A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry.
"One of the questions poetry is often confronted with is this question of use value鈥攚hat is it for? This is a political question, less about poetry than about how life is organized. When we devalue so-called 鈥渘on-useful鈥� or 鈥渦nproductive鈥� things鈥攕ocializing, wandering, reading poetry, noodling on a guitar鈥攚e devalue a precious part of our humanity. Life is wonderous and strange, and poetry allows me to connect with this understanding of life, allows me to see it and hear it and experience it."