The Writing Life: Phillip Levine In this edition of HoCoPoLitSo’s “The Writing Life,” poet and editor Elizabeth Spires probes Philip Levine, the Pulitzer- and National Book Award-winning poet, for his writing origins. Levine was just named the National Poet Laureate and will serve until fall 2012. Levine, who grew up poor in Depression-era Detroit with his immigrant family, remembers, “I had this enormous need to speak to someone and there was no one in my immediate experience whose ear would fulfill that, so I chose instead to speak to the cosmos.” Levine reads “The Escape,” about the pivotal moments of his adolescence, and the way he believes Americans must create themselves. Levine also reads “M. Degas Teaches Art and Science at Durfee Intermediate School -- Detroit, 1942,” and “The Poem of Chalk,” in which Levine describes his encounter with a wise eccentric on a New York street corner. “If our eyes are open, we’re encountering these sources of wisdom and poetry constantly.” (Javascript is required to view Mediasite content)