Five Things

It’s not often that a poem goes viral. But it happened in 2016, with “Good Bones” by Maggie Smith. I won’t read it for you now, but it’s short and you can find it online with a quick search. It speaks to anyone who’s concerned about the current state of our world -- which is probably most of us. It’s honest, and hopeful, and feels like a friend taking your arm, maybe a little bit too firmly, and saying, “We can get through this.” So I was delighted when I was asked to interview Maggie at the Writers’ Block Festival, an annual gathering put on by Louisville Literary Arts. She and I were onstage at Spalding University’s College Street Building on a Saturday morning, in front of an appreciative audience of writers, poets, agents, and publishers.