This week I force my friend Dustin to write a poem while we listen. Dustin Pearson is the Managing Editor of Hayden’s Ferry Review, He has a master’s degree from Clemson University, he has been published in a bunch of places, and he was awarded the 2015 Katherine C. Turner Prize from the Academy of American Poets.

Here’s the final text of the first rough version of this poem: 

If I Keep This
By Dustin Pearson

I want to tell you
that I think I’ve been dying.
I’ve seen that there’s a threat
Of a shooting today,
But that’s not why 
I say this to you.
I’ve been told that the young dying
Are rare.
I believe that.
Just with all the things 
Spread between the TV and internet
It’s become the rarity
That happens every day.
So which route to take?
I’ve been told death
Will come for us at 12:30.
Should I take what I’ve been 
Feeling outside, 
or should I have the courage
To sit and wait for other dangers?
I want to ask you
When you see danger coming from all angles
Is it your first instinct to meet it?
Who would you ask?
I have to tell you
That I ask because I want to know
If between the threats outside
And what’s seen on the internet or TV,
If the moment following is short
I want to spend it
Getting close to knowing who you are.

Find Dustin’s profile on the Poets and Writers directory here: 
http://www.pw.org/content/dustin_pearson

Find the anthology Pariahs: Writing Outside the Margins here:
http://amzn.com/1622881001

Music for this episode comes from twinmusicom.org. 

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Ep. 9 - From Death Threat to Poem

Writing Questions