Poetry News

Marie Ponsot hunts for lost language skills

By Harriet Staff

Poet Marie Ponsot speaks to the New York Times about trying to regain lost language skills after a stroke.

Last week, back in her apartment on the Upper East Side, Ms. Ponsot had help in her hunt for syntax, a tool more fundamental to human existence than the wheel: a rotating group of poets who come to read and talk with her. “I really think if you’re in this kind of mental trouble,” she said, “all the medications are going to keep the body alive, but to have it work” — she put her hands on her head — “you’re going to have to do it yourself.”

Tags: language skills, Marie Ponsot, stroke
Posted in Poetry News on Monday, June 28th, 2010 by Harriet Staff.