Clint Smith to Stephen Colbert: Poetry is the Act of Paying Attention

In a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Clint Smith told the host that, “Poetry is the act of paying attention.” The author of the award-winning book, How the Word is Passed and Counting Descent, has just released a new collection of his poetry called, Above Ground. In the 7 minute interview, Smith and Colbert discuss the relationship between love and paying attention as well as the human experience of often feeling conflicting emotions simultaneously. Smith reads one of his poems from his new book, “All at Once,” and I think everyone can identify with what a struggle it can be to bear the knowledge of joy and tragedy concurrently.

April is National Poetry Month in the United States, so I’ll be adding this to my other poetry resources. But I’ll also be bookmarking in my Pinterest collection of Inspirational Videos for Teachers because Smith talks about one of the first poems he remembers writing in school and the encouragement from his teacher that he will never forget.

You can view Colbert’s interview with Smith below, or at this link. If you’d like to listen to a 37 minute interview Smith did recently with Terry Gross on Fresh Air, you can access it here.