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Rediscovering a Major Colorado Poet
I just finished reading an extraordinary collection of poems by the long-overlooked Colorado poet Belle Turnbull. Certainly no better poems have been written about the lives of people wooed into the mountains by a vision of wealth—from gold, silver, molybdenum, and other elemental substances—and a primal sense of personal liberty. Edited by David J. Rothman, an excellent poet in his own right, and Vonnegut aficionado Jeffrey Villines, this book belongs in the library of every poet and certainly every reader who cares about poetry of the American West.Read More
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My Year in Books (2015)
I, too, dislike “best books” lists except when they bring me news of books I want to read but somehow overlooked, which is surprisingly seldom. Over 60-plus years of reading, beginning, as I recall, with Little Golden Books, I’ve developed enough self-awareness to guess correctly about 70 percent of time which books will bring me that mixture of pleasure and revelation that is my particular addiction.Read More
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Tamura Ryuichi: The Inner Pathway
I believe what is most important for a poet is the point in time and place at which he discovers his own archetypal poem. That is because this archetype represents the entirety of the “mapless journey” he is destined to take, and contains therein all concepts of time, death and love as a single entity. It seems to me that a poet perilously travels through the discovery and re-discoveries of the archetype, and his journey takes the form of battles against his own archetype. * To a poet, imagination is the energy that ceaselessly stimulates and re-creates his passion.Read More
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Poetry Month 2015: Tamura Ryuichi
PERHAPS A GREAT POEM by Tamura Ryuichi (trans.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. 
