I want to wrap my discussion around some useful ideas from Hank Lazer's book Opposing Poetries.¹ As a poet, critic, teacher, and university administrator, Lazer has given considerable thought to the intersection of poetry and pedagogy. His work offers a practical framework for thinking about poetry as an object of study within an educational institution, and also for considering the reading and writing of poetry as intellectual processes of critical thinking that can occur inside or outside the academy.