Tomás Q. Morín and Philip Metres

Illustration by Jane Beaird

Philip Metres is a poet, translator and director of the Peace, Justice and Human Rights program at John Carroll University. He is the author of ten books, including Shrapnel Maps, The Sound of Listening: Poetry as Refuge and Resistance, Pictures at an Exhibition, and Sand Opera.

Tomás Q. Morín is a poet, translator, and editor. His books include the collection of poems Machete and the memoir Let Me Count the Ways, as well as the poetry collections Patient Zero and A Larger Country. 

Both Philip and Tomás have received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, among many other honors. 

I met Tomás and Philip through my MFA program and knowing they are friends I thought it would be fun to be in conversation with them together! We talked all about vulnerability and art, literature as a home and companion, form enacting subject in writing, and the discovery that happens in the creative process.