National Poetry Month 2007
Poetry
'Thanksgiving Letter from Harry'()
April 30, 2007 Carl Dennis is the artist in residence at SUNY at Buffalo. "Thanksgiving Letter from Henry" is a poem from his most recent book, Unknown Friends, which will be released in April by Penguin.
'Apples'()
April 27, 2007 Grace Schulman's poem, "Apples," is from her book The Broken String. The eminent literary critic Harold Bloom calls Schulman "an elegiac, highly original religious lyricist"and says that The Broken String "surpasses her distinguished previous work."
'Thing'()
April 25, 2007 "Thing" appears in Next Life, Rae Armantrout's new collection of poems. Armantrout has taught writing for almost 20 years at the University of California, San Diego. Her work has been praised for syntax that borders on everyday speech while grappling with questions of deception and distortion.
'In the Old Days...'()
April 23, 2007 This untitled poem is from Ko Un's most recent book, Flowers of a Moment, translated by Brother Anthony of Taize, Young-moo Kim, and Gary Gach. Ko Un grew up in Korea during the Japanese Occupation. During the Korean War, he was conscripted by the People's Army. In 1952, he became a Buddhist and lived a monastic life for ten years.
Poetry
'For the Confederate Dead'()
April 20, 2007 Kevin Young's most recent collection of poems, For the Confederate Dead, explores "the contradictions of our 'Confederate' legacy and the troubled nation where that legacy still lingers." Read the book's title poem.
'Second Draft'()
April 18, 2007 James Longenbach's "Second Draft" is from his third book of poems, Draft of a Letter. Of the collection, The Los Angeles Times Book Review said, "A sensibility this cogent, this subtle and austere is rare; even rarer is its proof that poetry still flows through all things and transforms all things in the process."
'Poem'()
April 13, 2007 Raised in Oklahoma and now residing in Brooklyn, New York, poet Matthew Rohrer "turns wide eyes and lyric wit toward the requirements of fatherhood, citizenship, and romantic love" in his new collection, Rise Up.
'Atlantis — A Lost Sonnet'()
April 11, 2007 For her 10th book, Domestic Violence, Irish poet Eavan Boland turns to "the charged spaces in which people live, about the interiors where seductions, quarrels, memories and griefs occur."
'Oil & Steel'()
April 9, 2007 "Oil & Steel" appears in Henri Cole's latest collection of poems, Blackbird and Wolf. In this sixth collection of poetry, the Virginia-based poet deepens his excavations of autobiography and memory.
'Bent Orbit'()
April 6, 2007 The poet August Kleinzahler says Elaine Equi's poems "have a mystery to them that their offhandedness and surface whimsy belie. Reading her, you may find the world becomes a more unstable, various, and gently freaky place."
