Webinar: Harryette Mullen's "Sleeping with the Dictionary"

 I started this blog today during a webinar on Harryette Mullen's Sleeping with the Dictionary held at the University of Lusaka, Zambia, together with my best friend, Dennis Tembo, in order to provide the students and staff who took part in the event with a platform for further discussion. I am confident that this is just the beginning. 

One of his brilliant students asked me what the use of poetry, of language, of words was in a world like ours. The answer that came to my mind was the one I normally use when I am not able to find a better answer on the spot (as if there actually were such a thing):

Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

At the end of the webinar, students were asked to contribute a verse (read: post!) to this blog in response to one of the activities I suggested during the two ours we spent together talking about dictionaries, poetry, and the world.
Any  comments, suggestions, thoughts are welcome from those who were part of this, or from anyone else who has anything (at all) to share!