The Poetry of Aging November 2nd, 2024 at 2:30PM Past Event Watch the video » “So here it is at last, the distinguished thing” So Henry James described his intimation of death. His brother, William, was grittier, but no less poetic in calling it the “worm at the core” that frightens and fascinates us. Thoughts of aging and death have inspired some of our most beautiful poetry: “Upon those boughs which shake against the cold/Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang,” wrote William Shakespeare. This roundtable will bring together poets, psychoanalysts, critics and a translator to consider questions that seem more compelling than ever in our aging society: What is the relationship between dementia and language? How does aging change the experience of reading and writing poetry? How do we distinguish between lived experience and the lyrical? Can poetry help us as we age? Participants: Rachel Hadas Professor of English, Rutgers University Poet, essayist, & translator Poet, essayist, and translator Rachel Hadas is the author of many books, including, most recently, “Ghost Guest” (2023), “Pandemic Almanac” (2022), and “Piece by Piece” and “Love and Dread” (both 2021). Her newest collection, “Forty-four Pastorals,” is forthcoming, and a prosimetrum entitled “From Which We Start Awake” is in progress. Hadas has published widely in… read more » Owen Lewis Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Poet View Papers / Presentations » Owen Lewis, author of three collections of poetry, Field Light (Distinguished Favorite, 2020 NYCBigBookAward; 2021 “Must Read”, Mass Book Awards), Marriage Map (short list Rubery Book Awards)and Sometimes Full of Daylight, all from Dos Madres Press, and three chapbooks, mostly recently Knock-knock (2024). best man was the recipient of the 2016 Jean Pedrick Chapbook Prize of the New England Poetry Club. Prizes include: 2023 Guernsey International Poetry Competition, 2023 Arts & Letters/ Rumi Prize, 2016 International Hippocrates Prize for… read more » James Marcus Editor, Translator, & Critic James Marcus is the author of Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Amazonia: Five Years at the Epicenter of the Dot.Com Juggernaut. He edited and introduced Second Read: Writers Look Back at Classic Works of Reportage and has translated seven books from the Italian, including Giacomo Casanova’s The Duel. His essays and criticism have appeared in The New… read more » Wendy Sloan Poet, Translator, Essayist Retired Attorney Wendy Sloan is a poet, translator, essayist, and retired attorney. Before returning to poetry, she practiced union democracy and labor-side labor law with her partner, Burton H. Hall, in the firm of Hall & Sloan. Her work has appeared widely in journals and in the anthologies The Able Muse Translation Issue, The Best of the Raintown Review, The Great American Wise Ass Poetry Anthology and Poems for a Liminal Age, benefitting Medecins Sans Frontieres, UK, among others. Her collection is Sunday Mornings at… read more » Caitlin Snow Psychiatrist Caitlin Snow is a geriatric psychiatrist with a private practice in New York City. She received her medical degree from Weill Cornell Medicine, and completed her General Psychiatry Residency and Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine (NYPH-WCM). Prior to starting her private practice she worked as a full-time Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Attending Psychiatrist at NYPH-WCM. She… read more »
Rachel Hadas Professor of English, Rutgers University Poet, essayist, & translator Poet, essayist, and translator Rachel Hadas is the author of many books, including, most recently, “Ghost Guest” (2023), “Pandemic Almanac” (2022), and “Piece by Piece” and “Love and Dread” (both 2021). Her newest collection, “Forty-four Pastorals,” is forthcoming, and a prosimetrum entitled “From Which We Start Awake” is in progress. Hadas has published widely in… read more »
Owen Lewis Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Poet View Papers / Presentations » Owen Lewis, author of three collections of poetry, Field Light (Distinguished Favorite, 2020 NYCBigBookAward; 2021 “Must Read”, Mass Book Awards), Marriage Map (short list Rubery Book Awards)and Sometimes Full of Daylight, all from Dos Madres Press, and three chapbooks, mostly recently Knock-knock (2024). best man was the recipient of the 2016 Jean Pedrick Chapbook Prize of the New England Poetry Club. Prizes include: 2023 Guernsey International Poetry Competition, 2023 Arts & Letters/ Rumi Prize, 2016 International Hippocrates Prize for… read more »
James Marcus Editor, Translator, & Critic James Marcus is the author of Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Amazonia: Five Years at the Epicenter of the Dot.Com Juggernaut. He edited and introduced Second Read: Writers Look Back at Classic Works of Reportage and has translated seven books from the Italian, including Giacomo Casanova’s The Duel. His essays and criticism have appeared in The New… read more »
Wendy Sloan Poet, Translator, Essayist Retired Attorney Wendy Sloan is a poet, translator, essayist, and retired attorney. Before returning to poetry, she practiced union democracy and labor-side labor law with her partner, Burton H. Hall, in the firm of Hall & Sloan. Her work has appeared widely in journals and in the anthologies The Able Muse Translation Issue, The Best of the Raintown Review, The Great American Wise Ass Poetry Anthology and Poems for a Liminal Age, benefitting Medecins Sans Frontieres, UK, among others. Her collection is Sunday Mornings at… read more »
Caitlin Snow Psychiatrist Caitlin Snow is a geriatric psychiatrist with a private practice in New York City. She received her medical degree from Weill Cornell Medicine, and completed her General Psychiatry Residency and Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine (NYPH-WCM). Prior to starting her private practice she worked as a full-time Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Attending Psychiatrist at NYPH-WCM. She… read more »