What other poetry books have you been reading lately?
I've been reading Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz, EDGE by Barbara Ungar, Loving in Truth by Jay Rogoff, and An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo. I skim some of the major journals, of course, particularly American Poetry Review, Poetry (if you can overlook the recent scandal), Image, Rattle, and a lovely one out of Cambridge I recently discovered, la piccoletta barca. I'm also drawn to the great Americans we've lost recently or in recent years-- the incomparable bell hooks, the bicontinental Eavan Boland, Robert Bly, and of course Adrienne Rich. In the past couple of years I've been enjoying poems by Jane Hirshfield, Kazim Ali, Honoree Jeffers, David Graham, James Crews, and Ellen Bass on this side of the pond, and on the other, many from Northern Ireland, poets like Medbh McGuckian, Leontia Flynn, Sinead Morrissey, Nick Laird, Stephen Sexton, and Paula Meehan from Ireland. There are so many really fine poets publishing now, both locally in upstate New York and around the English-speaking world. It's humbling and energizing and awe-inspiring. If you like your poetry to be provocative--aesthetically, spiritually, or socio-politically--poetry is a rich minefield these days.
For anyone looking to sample more contemporary poetry, I'd suggest they start at the local bookstore with a contemporary journal of poems. Then jump on Twitter and look for poetry that turns you on. It's as near as breath, and as life-affirming.
No comments:
Post a Comment