“It’s easy to say poets are attracted to sport for reasons that have something to do with form. I’m sure that’s true, but I also think that it has something to do with the possibility of failure and, in the case of many Olympic sports, the fact that nobody really watches what you do most of the time . . . You really have to love what you do to make the crazy decision to be a poet. Or an archer. Or a member of the Olympic canoeing team.”
Over at the Los Angeles Review of Books, Gabrielle Calvocoressi is drawing our attention to an unlikely pairing: sports and poetry. The poet and Rumpus contributor gathered the voices of a diverse group of poets and poet-critics to provide readers with a different kind of Olympic coverage. Over the course of the coming weeks, these writers will share their artistic renditions of dismounts, podiums, synchronized swimming, and all things Olympian.
To find the LARB Poetic Olympic Team and Calvocoressi’s introduction to the project, click here.
