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Close Readings by Andrew Shields
Andrew Shields Lest they get lost in the increasingly abundant comment stream flowing from my previous post, let me bring to the top the four close readings of individual poems Andrew Shields mentioned in that stream. They deal with poems by Rae Armantrout, Adrienne Rich, Kit Robinson, and John Agard. These are four different as different can be poets, and Andrew’s readings are fine indeed.Read More
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A Stray Thought
I was reading Kent Johnson’s post on John Latta’s Isola di Rifiuti blog this morning when a stray thought zapped flylike through a small tear in the screen of my concentration. The post continues a debate between Johnson and Tony Towle over a famous poem ascribed to Frank O’Hara, but which Johnson speculates may in fact have been an imitation of O’Hara written in homage to the deceased poet by his friend Kenneth Koch.Read More
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Poetic Anemia
Here’s a thoughtful, if negative, review of Rae Armantrout’s Versed. The author, Tom Holmes, is on target, it seems to me.Read More
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A Noiseless Patient Poet
Far be it from me to diss Marjorie Perloff, an often illuminating poetry critic. But when Jerome Rothenberg offered up this extract from her introduction to some German translations of Rae Armantrout‘s poems, a strange feeling crept over me: the sensation that she was slipping, I mean. Perloff, typically precise to a fault, here becomes a slightly vague promoter of a poet she’s a fan of. To wit: [U]nlike Williams (or Levertov), Armantrout was never a poet of concrete particulars: from the first, her minimalist lyrics were breaking the Williams mold.Read More
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Breadcrumbs: A Personal Anthology of 2009 (Part One)
Inspired by Bob Arnold’s playground, I’m going to leave some breadcrumbs here that others might want to follow. My aim is to whittle down two large stacks of reading done in the past year, which had built up while I slowly came to the realization that I will never have the time or strength to write in any detail about them all. These morsels I offer in lieu of the more in-depth reactions all of these books deserve.Read More
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Notley…? I’m Afraid Not.
I’ve tried off and on for years to enjoy Alice Notley‘s poetry. (It comes highly recommended by poets I admire—Rae Armantrout, Andrei Codrescu, Anne Waldman and others. I’ve tried to find it interesting on a basic level and I’ve looked for reasons to think it profound. In fact, I snapped up a copy of her Grave of Light: New and Selected Poems, 1970-2005 in the hope that an extensive but judiciously chosen overview of her work would make her (in some quarters) iconic status understandable.Alas.Read More
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Blogbooks…
I think you all know about Bill Knott’s making all his poetry available through Lulu.com and for free PDF download from his blog. Well, here’s another way of going at it. KC poet Scott Keeney is creating what he calls “blogbooks,” collections of his poems set up as individual blogs. An inventive idea! His latest is Sappho Does Hay(na)ku, available also as a limited edition chapbook from Sephyrus. Best of all, his poems are very good—minimalist in the best sense: Cid Cormanesque, Rae Armantroutish, etc. And if you’re wondering what “hay(na)ku” means, check here. Thanks to Eileen R.Read More
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
