Athlete Poets
Conversation with
Stephen Dunn
The stereotypes about athletes and poets might make it seem like an odd combination, but poetry lives everywhere, and stereotypes need to be broken. The summer issue of Rattle features 22 poets who break the mold—professional athletes from the NFL and NBA, tennis pros, soccer players, weightlifters, marathon runners, and more—capped off with a wide-ranging conversation with semi-pro basketball player and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn. As these poets explain in a particularly interesting contributor notes section, poetry and athletics fit together like a hand in a ball-glove.
The open section will make you laugh and cry as always, with a little more formal verse than usual, and an epic “Choose Your Own Adventure” poem by Caroline N. Simpson, which also adds a splash of color art for the first time in years.
