I was always very aware of the nature of the place where I was growing up in Gulfport, Mississippi, how that place… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
One of two historically African American communities that sprang up along the Mississippi Gulf Coast after emancipation, North Gulfport has always been… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
It is a tremendous honor to be named poet laureate, but one that I find humbling as well, because it's the kind… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
When I was growing up there, North Gulfport was referred to as 'Little Vietnam' because of the perception of crime and depravity… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
I find myself frequently introducing myself to someone, saying that, you know, I've grown up black and biracial in the United States. — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
Even though I am the daughter of a poet, and my stepmother is also a poet, growing up, I didn't think I… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
Because I'm a younger laureate, it seemed important to me to do something - not to just accept the honor of the… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
Growing up, my birthday was always Confederate Memorial Day. It helped to create this profound sense of awareness about the Civil War… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
I love mystery novels... I love seeing the dramas played out in academic departments, particularly English departments. I started reading these when… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
I was always very aware of the nature of the place where I was growing up in Gulfport, Mississippi, how that place was shaping… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
My own journey in becoming a poet began with memory - with the need to record and hold on to what was being lost.… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
“the little fires set the flames of an idea licking the page how knowledge burns” — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
I think there is a poem out there for everyone, to be an entrance into the poetry and a relationship with it. — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
When I write notes in my journal, I'm just trying to scribble down as much as possible. Later on, I decide whether to follow… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
“Here is the threshold I do not cross: a sliver of light through the doorway finds his tattoo, the anchor on his forearm tangled… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
I started out in graduate school to be a fiction writer. I thought I wanted to write short stories. I started writing poems at… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
My mother and my father divorced during the time that my father was getting his Ph.D. at Tulane. — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
My father, Eric Trethewey, is a poet, so I had one right inside the house. And on long trips, he'd tell me, if I… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
I've been telling my students, 'Imitate, imitate.' And they say, 'Well, what if I plagiarize, or what if I'm not original? I want to… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
I know that my tendency is to be linear, and I'm trying to find ways to subvert that. And so in 'Bellocq's Ophelia' my… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
I think people turn to poetry more often than they think they do, or encounter it in more ways than they think that they… — Natasha Trethewey Copy Share Image
