Laurence Lerner

3 Mar 2016 | by Laurence Lerner and Philip Gross

In 2011 the distinguished poet Laurence Lerner, who died recently, talked about his approach to writing with fellow poet Philip Gross. The conversation was published in Quaker Studies. In this extract, Laurence Lerner reflects on poetry and Quakerism.

'I dive in lakes: the slap, the tear of foam, The stiff support of water under the arms, The rub of flesh.' | Photo: barnyz / flickr CC.

In its leaning on language, poetry can only be written by someone with a feel for the power of words, yet paradoxically it’s an attempt to shake free of words and find the ‘thisness’ of experience, the underlying actuality that words are a way of capturing. How obvious it now seems to find that losing language is a way of groping one’s way directly into experience. Obvious?

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