“Names”: Six Questions for Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky was born on October 20th, 1940, in Long Branch, New Jersey. He graduated from Rutgers University and then attended Stanford University to receive his PhD, graduating in 1966. He is currently a professor at Boston University, teaching English and Creative Writing in the graduate writing program. Pinsky has written numerous books, including At the Foundation Hospital (2016) and Selected Poems (2012). Pinsky also edited The Best of The American Poetry (2013), which includes his poem “Names.” Pinsky serves as an essayist, editor, poet, and translator. Pinsky’s criticism of poetry represents his experience and insight on the power of poetry. Pinsky has written nine poetry collections and was elected Poet Laureate of the United States in 1997. Pinsky has also served three terms as Poet Laureate of the United States. Pinsky’s most recent work includes his Proverbs of Limbo collection, which came out on June 11, 2024. He also founded the Favorite Poem Project which is aimed at appreciating and celebrating poetry. Around 18,000 Americans contribute poems to this project each year. He has been awarded the Williams Carlos Williams Prize, the Lenore Marshal Prize, and plenty more. Pinsky dedicates himself to appreciating and experiencing the art of poetry.
From the moment I read “Names” by Robert Pinsky in The Best of the American Poetry: 25th Anniversary Edition, I knew I was set on interviewing this poet. I began researching Pinsky, and I learned that he is an extremely well-known and successful poet. “Names” capture Pinsky’s interest in explaining the value behind simple elements of life, and in this case, he focuses on the names of people. I read through this poem multiple times and picked apart each line. I decided to further research Pinsky as I started to really like his work. I showed interest in two other poems, “Shirt” and “From An Explanation of America: A Love of Death.” Pinsky explains that “poetry is a vital part of our intelligence, our ability to learn, our ability to remember, the relationship between our bodies and minds.” I am also very interested in Pinsky’s language, which is used to enhance his poetry. I agree with Pinsky that it is important to appreciate and contribute to the art of poetry because all poems are significant. Pinsky’s work ultimately made me consider poetry at a deeper level, and this led me to interview him.
I have read that you are the founder of the Favorite Poem Project. This brings me to the question: have any of your poems been selected for this? Regardless, which of your poems would you choose to submit into the Favorite Poem Project?
Early on in the project, I made a firm rule: no poems by me would be included. I didn’t want to use the project or the Poet Laureate title to benefit myself. Or to put that in a different way, I didn’t want to even seem to need such things for me work to reach readers. There were a couple of particularly nice letters nominating my poem “Shirt”; I hope they are saved somewhere.
I was very interested in your poem “Names.” What was the reason you ended this poem with “from Salmagundi”?
Those words are a note, not part of the poem, indicating that before being published in the “Best Poems” anthology, the editors of that anthology found the poem in the excellent quarterly magazine Salmagundi.
While reading several of your poems, I noticed a pattern of connections to Judaism. Is there a reason for this?
I am Jewish. And aside from that, the history of the Jews is a remarkable, intense kind of strand in many things that interest me.
I notice that in your poems “Names” and “Shirt,” you describe the unseen message of the significance behind both such simple aspects. What is the reason for this?
I wouldn’t call it “unseen message,” though I see what you mean, Scarlett. Everything— including a shirt or a name— has a history. Every history is partly right there, easily seen. (You can see a lit of it in your phone, search engine or Wikipedia.) And every history is partly clear but partly debatable, full of mysteries and oddities and ambiguities. So with a shirt or with names I try to think about the significance of what I see and its history and the mysteries of that history. Not unseen— quite visible— but partly mysterious.
I read that you often perform your poems with eminent jazz musicians. This is very intriguing to me and brings me to question, what inspired you to perform with jazz musicians?
Poetry are music are sister arts. In ancient cultures of Europe and Asia there was no big difference between them. “Proverbs of Limbo” (the PoemJazz album available on Spotify and Apple Music, etc.) is natural for me. At your age, I was a musician more than a poet. And jazz is the most original, distinctive American art form. The most significant unique cultural attainment of the United States.
I see that you teach a course called The Art of Poetry. This course covers many themes, bringing individuals to experience and relate to poetry. In what discussion in your lectures would your poem “Names” fall under?
All of ‘em or any of ‘em. I don’t mean the videos in The Art of Poetry to fall into categories or labels.