Poet Todd Boss
Visiting poet Todd Boss will be reading some of his poetry in the Te Paske Gallery at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 16, as part of the Deepsong Reading Series. The public is invited to attend this reading.
Boss’s poetry has been described as “musical, idea-driven and accessible to the average reader.”
“I write until I feel that pang of truth, that twitch by which the heart tells the mind it understands,” said Boss. “I edit my poems until they lodge themselves in my memory; that’s how I know they’re worth reading—because they’re worth having by heart. The brain is tissue, but the heart is muscle; poetry is the muscular language of the heart.”
The most gratifying thing for Boss about writing poetry is when someone who claims they do not like poetry tells him that they like his poetry. “When I’ve reached a non-poetry reader, that’s my glory,” said Boss. “That’s when I feel I’ve crossed over.”
According to his Web site, www.toddbosspoet.com, Boss “explores the noxious nature of persistent love, the fickle character of a creator God, the artistry of nature’s disorder and the great nondenominational church of the past” through poetry.
Boss’s best-selling debut poetry collection, “Yellowrocket,” was published in 2008 and awarded the Midwest Bookseller’s Choice Award. His poems have appeared in “The New Yorker,” “Poetry,” “New England Review” and many others. Boss’s poetry has also been syndicated on national public radio and on Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry.”
