2026 Conference Schedule

Of the poet’s tools, Li-Young Lee praises the “different colors and shades” of silence, while Jane Hirshfield calls intersections of language and silence “thresholds” for the “marriage of said and unsaid.” This panel explores the craft of silences: pauses, line breaks, blank space, hesitation, disruption, and implication. Using models from their own and others’ work, panelists reveal how silences shape poems, heighten consciousness, manage risks of miscommunication, and counteract daily chatter.