Walt Hunter shares the power of poetry with students—and a national magazine audience
For Case Western Reserve’s Walt Hunter, poetry is an elixir of life—a concentrated expression of what it means to be human.
“A poem is a translation of an idea into vivid and compressed language,” said Hunter, a professor and chair of the Department of English. “It’s my job to bring this out, help people linger over a poem. I’d like the reader to read the poem not just as an ornament, but as a working through of a thought.”
An educator, poet and scholar of poetry, Hunter is guiding an ever-widening circle of people under the art form’s spell.
In fall 2022, he was named the contributing editor for poetry at the highly regarded Atlantic magazine—and recently became the contributing editor of fiction as well. From that national and international platform, he writes about poetry and chooses poems and fiction the magazine publishes.
A kind of journalist of literature, Hunter often examines poems in relation to current events. It is perhaps a fitting role—considering that his father was a radio, print and television journalist in Philadelphia, where Hunter grew up—but not one he initially sought.
Learn more about Hunter’s literary experience in the latest issue of Think magazine.