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My Year in Books (2016)
As I did at the end of 2015, I’m laying out my past year’s book reading in the spirit of sharing the often haphazard journey of mind and heart that is my chief solitary pleasure. (There are other pleasures, of course, not solitary at all, but they don’t involve this particular addiction.) Again, the books listed below are ordered according to when I read them. I won’t comment on all of these titles because all of them are well worth reading.Read More
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Poetry Reading Photos
I had a great time reading with two excellent poets, Robert Cooperman and Andrea Hollander, first in Boulder (at Innisfree Poetry Bookstore) on April 4th and then in Denver (at BookBar) on April 5th. Just for grins, here some pictures. I’m only in one of them because I was the guy behind the camera for all the rest; the one I’m in was taken by Nicole Sullivan, presiding genius of BookBar. I should say that I read from two recent books. In Boulder from Marked Men, and in Denver from Bed of Coals.Read More
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Immodestly Noted
Order on Amazon Succinct The Broadstone Anthology of Short Poems edited by Jonathan Greene and Robert West Broadstone Books 418 Ann Street Frankfort, Kentucky 40601-1929 My contributor’s copies came in the mail yesterday, and oh my—what are the odds that an off-the-main-map poet like me would find himself among such company? Somewhere between Anonymous and Zukofsky, within hailing distance of Archilochus, Arnold, Brandi, Bunting, Heaney, Kinnell, Niedecker, Rosenow, Villon, three Williamses (Jonathan, Miller, and William Carlos), and yes, Willie Yeats. This gave me a strange sense of elation, enhanced by the beauty of the physical book itself.Read More
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The Integrity of the Curve
“You will find that every great conflict has been followed by an era of materialism in which the ideals for which the conflict ostensibly was waged were submerged. […] By intensity of hatred nations create in themselves the characters they imagine in their enemies.Read More
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Weary-Hearted
Among my very first blog posts here was this one regarding Howard Nemerov. I was reminded of him again by Jim Culleny’s posting of Nemerov’s weary-hearted poem “The Life Cycle of the Common Man,” over at 3 Quarks Daily. It is a fine example of what Captain Ron would call “quietude.” I happen to like it. Why? Well, at least in part because it is anti-heroic, and for almost a decade we Americans have been operating in Heroic Mode–the jingoistic, charge-up-San-Juan-Hill mentality that not infrequently leads us to elect stupid leaders who lead us into stupid wars.Read More
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Dissenting from My Dissent
Well, I tried to dissent from the debate, but now Seth Abramson has yet another lengthy and thought-provoking entry on his blog, to which I want to steer this blog’s readers, in part because I generally agree with his analysis. I have two dissents, though.Read More
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Adios, Hayden Carruth
I have been asked more than once recently what book I would want with me if I were stranded on a desert island. (People who ask this forget the key word “desert,” which—if we took it seriously—would dictate something far too slender.) The complete works of William Blake was one of my answers. But today I have to revise that choice. It would have to be the complete works of Hayden Carruth, who died last night at age 87. I discovered Carruth’s poetry through his prose.Read More
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Duty and Delight
Thankfully, Bill Knott has resurrected his blog, where he has been posting links to those of his collections that he is making available through his storefront at Lulu.com (both as bound volumes and as free PDF downloads). He’s also reposting some good material from his old blog.Read More
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Seth Abramson on The School of Quietude
I’ve become addicted to Seth Abramson’s blog The Suburban Ecstasies, in part because he always seems to be thinking out loud, not delivering sermons or condescending rants, and thinking out loud requires openness—a quality I value much more than the closed-circuit pronouncements of the Harold Bloom type.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. 
