Fayetteville as in Fate

In a Research Frontiers video, University of Arkansas poet and English professor Mohja Kahf reads her poem “Fayetteville as in Fate” about the discoveries and hopes of a newcomer to northwest Arkansas and the power of poetry. The video was shot in a mélange of campus and town locales, from the castle in Wilson Park to the Greek Theater and a soybean field at the university farm.

In her poem, Kahf writes

See how a farmer takes up a handful of dirt
This one wears a sirwal and that one wears overalls,
but the open hand with the dirt in its creases
makes a map both can read

But who will coax them close enough to know this?
Darling, it is poetry
Darling, I am a poet
It is my fate

 The video accompanies an article about Kahf's scholarly work in the fall 2009 issue of Research Frontiers.