Afterward: Ada Limón’s “How to Triumph Like a Girl” by Sher Schwartz
Six minute video about Ada Limón and her work
Click below to read “How to Triumph Like a Girl.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/149814/how-to-triumph-like-a-girl
“How to Triumph Like a Girl’ by Ada Limón
8 responses to ““How to Triumph Like a Girl’ by Ada Limón”
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So glad you enjoyed the clip. I see it has been forwarded a lot. I actually saw this episode when it was produced, and I recalled how terrific it was so I went back and searched for it a PBS. Thanks for your comments.
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Thanks for your comments and explaining how you related to these lines. Of course when I hear “ears up” I think of my donkeys — another type of equine. But, yes watching the dogs run is so joyous. I love to watch them run.
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You are so fortunate! I do recall her being there and I was still Covid shy, and I didn’t attend.
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Once again, I enjoyed your reading of the poem and your afterword. Especially the sounds of birds in the background!
What the poem brought up for me was issues of gender. It is written from and about a feminine perspective. I wonder if persons of other genders can find a way into the poem, to share its energy. Or if they will feel that they are only observing another gender, however interesting and beneficial that might be, while they themselves are outside the poem, kind of like admiring a garden over a fence. It inspires me personally to try to write in a way that opens the gate and welcomes each reader in.
–Jane-
Hello and thank you for your thoughtful comments. This is a worthy goal to write in a way that is more inclusive. I need to ask some of the male readers their perspective of this poem. I am aware how I feel when I read I guess what you would call a very male perspective, and I find it alienating. But how would I feel if it is a nonbinary work? A contemporary poet who I enjoy is Kwame Dawes, and I find his work quite open and welcoming, at least for me as a reader. I hope to share some of his work later this summer. I have a smilier goal but it is in a different area and that has to do with nature and the human–how to present nature not as the other but as just as existent, meaningful, and important as humans consider themselves to be. More on this later Jane– I am just leaving for a writer’s conference. I hope to share a poem when I get some moments from the conference. I love your well considered thoughtful perspectives. Thanks for taking the time to share.
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