At age 80, Sylvia Byrne Pollack of Seattle will publish her first book of poetry

 At age 80, Sylvia Byrne Pollack of Seattle will publish her first book of poetry

“Part of the magic of poetry is that, when you write the words, you’re a writer,” Pollack continues. “And once you put them down, they’re not really yours anymore. The reader has to do the other half of the work.”

 Pollack says that’s part of why she’s so enamored by poetry.

“I suppose this is true with poetry particularly, because it’s much more compressed. You need to spend time with it and let the words soak in. I think many poets have had the experience of writing something, and only later do you realize that it has layers you didn’t even recognize. So that’s one of the things I love about poetry, is that it’s so multilayered.”