Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

How Real Is Philip Levine?

Philip Levine was named the Poet Laureate of the United States this week, a choice that has been widely lauded. I must admit that for some years I’ve questioned the esteemed poet’s status, or more pertinently, his authenticity. My doubts, however, were dispelled by one short but memorable encounter.

From his first book on, Levine made himself known as a “blue collar” poet. Reading some of his poems, you might think that he worked at a factory all of his life. In fact, not only did he attend college, but in his mid-20s began an M.A. program and shortly thereafter became a professor of creative writing — which is what he’s been doing since.

He did grow up in the blue collar environment, and worked at a factory for a few years after college. But, I thought, he did that for the same reason that short, overweight, and nearly blind Isaac Babel joined the Red Army — to gain authentic experience in order to write about it. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But I always imagined Levine to be a refined, frail, and spectacled intellectual, who only traveled to the steel plants of Detroit from the protected confines of his poetry. He probably doesn’t even talk the talk — he just writes it down.

A few years ago I was taking a graduate course at New York University’s department of comparative literature, which shared a floor space with the creative writing program. One day I walked into the men’s room. A man was washing his hands. In the mirror over the sink, I saw a face that I knew from a number of back-covers on my bookshelf. “Oh wow, Philip Levine!” I blurted out.

“Yes, Philip Levine takes sh*ts!” the maestro replied and walked out.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.