Line tamer.
Aimee recommended this to me months ago and I bought it back in the spring but just finally picked it up. God, what a heart-wrenching story set against the very real and disturbing 1937 Parsley Massacre in the Dominican Republic where tens of thousands of Haitians were slaughtered. Almost missed my subway stop a few Read More …
I was disappointed in this “last” book (did I read somewhere that he claimed this would be his last poetry collection?) if anything for its self-indulgence. Just when I couldn’t handle another scene of light likened to some painter, he parenthetically breaks in and makes fun of himself for his knack for making such a Read More …
I heard Marilyn Hacker read poems from this collection back in March at the PSA’s “Tribute to Carcanet Press and Michael Schmidt.” Khalvati’s a master of the poem sequence. Highlights of this book for me included the sequence “The Inwardness of Elephants” and her corona, or sonnet cycle “Love in an English August”–not only deft Read More …
I’ve had this book for years. I think I bought it at a used bookstore or flea market, already a bit dog-eared and yellowing. I’ve been trying to work my way through it since I’ve returned from Jamaica (it’s a bit dry). My favorite bit so far? Describing the great earthquake of 1692 that sunk Read More …
I thought I had finished reading this about five years ago and realized I stopped half-way through…missing all the good poems in “Part 3: The Mango of Poetry” such as “County, Sligoville” and “Letter to Vincent van Gogh.” A happy Sunday discovery to read/re-read. I’m working on an “homage” poem to Lorna called “Workshops with Read More …
Clearly a labor of love for Alice Quinn. I found her copious endnotes far more pleasurable than the fragments and abandoned poems. Remind me to destroy my fragments folder before I die. My favorite quotes: “Translating poetry is like trying to put your feet into gloves.” “…the situation of the poet: the difficulty of combining Read More …
I was cleaning and reorganizing my poetry shelves and every time I see this cover I just have to sit and admire it for many moments. I read a draft of the manuscript the year it won the NPS and it turned into a beautiful book. It’s a fabulous feeling, to see the raw poems Read More …
I picked this up in 2006 after I found out Kay Ryan was the judge for the Walt Whitman Award, just to see if there was any chance her aesthetic might match mine (The Erotic Postulate was shortlisted for the award, so you start to wonder what your chances are when you’re so close: one Read More …
So I joined yet another social site. I think this one is forgivable as it focuses solely on books and gives me a better space to organize my library, plus many of my grad school friends from Michigan are on it, so it’s been a nice way to reconnect with that former community of writers. Read More …
I’ve been thinking a lot about sequences lately, those who do them well, my penchant for writing a series or in groupings, as if to truly explore an idea I must sustain that energy over multiple attempts, approaching a topic or idea or obsession from multiple angles, exploring as many facets as possible. This is Read More …