Thanks to the judges at the Colorado Authors League for choosing Under Sleep’s New Moon for the 2022 Book Award for poetry. Very exciting! And more than a little surprising, given the puzzlement some folks have registered upon reading the title. More than one person has asked me a simple question: “What does it mean?”—my somewhat mysterious title.
I get it. Titling any book isn’t easy, but it can be especially tough with poetry, which usually has no narrative to hang its hat on, so most poetry collections don’t have titles like On the Road or Murder on the Orient Express. Poetry collections also don’t tend to feature a dominant character like Moby Dick, The Great Gatsby, or The Old Man and the Sea.
Poetry titles tend to be … well, poetic. They usually point toward some central image that acquires meaning as the reader within the context of the collection: a touchstone image that embodies a central feeling or idea that resonates throughout the book. Think Leaves of Grass, or The Speed of Darkness, or The Light Around the Body.
Or Under Sleep’s New Moon! You can begin to approach by asking yourself, “What is a new moon?” The new moon is simply the first lunar phase during which the moon is not visible to the naked eye. But it’s there: a new beginning. That’s the core sense of my book’s title—a book about beginnings.
These are poems, after all, mostly left unfinished in notebooks or sometimes even in print, back when I was too green to figure out how to discover their true shapes. But they were poems I returned to often over the years, poking and prodding, tinkering and testing, trying to rediscover them.
Then came the pandemic. I was working remotely and fell into the habit of screen-time. With few distractions, I began to work seriously on what I expected would be a chapbook, maybe 25 to 32 pages long. But over time more and more poems stepped up for a makeover. I ended up with a book a bit over 100 pages long with poems from my first 20 years of writing. Those years were full of the typical anxious questions all young poets ask: Am I any good? Am I being honest? Am I getting any better? And the question famously asked by Dana Gioia, “Can poetry matter?” (The answers, in order, were: Maybe. Hopefully. Possibly. And, “Of course!”) All that matters now is whether or not they matter to readers. And that answer only time will tell….
As for the poem from which the title was drawn, readers will find it on page 100:
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. 
Congratulations, Joe! So glad for you and this new work.
Thanks, John! Kinda gives me the shivers when you say “poems from that period.” I guess I remember all the poems from that period that I trust will never see the light of day. Oh, probably not the ones you have. Numbers of them glowing evanescent as swamp gas in little mags whose editors must have been drunk….
Look forward to reading the book. I know I have some of the poems from that period, but certainly not all of them. And congratulations on the recognition!
Gracias, David! Our society is one of mutual admiration….
I’m very happy for you , Joe, congratulations!
You already know how much I appreciate your book!
Thanks, Lisa!
Congratulations, Joe! Such wonderful news!
Thanks, Bob … Beth … and Chris! As for my reading in Ouray in October, it just goes to show how far I’ll go to find a good tavern!
Congratulations, Joe! Your title poem is one of my favorites from this collection.
Such a beautiful title poem itself a metaphor for that time in your life as a writer–a green branch, a thread to climb, a labyrinth inside you. So happy to have you opening our coming season for us at the Tavern in Ouray with these poems!
Wonderful news, and a terrific sample poem!
Thanks, Pat! There was a funny moment a few weeks ago when I read up in Boulder. A fellow poet came up to me afterward and said something to this effect: “Now that I hear your poems out loud, I can understand what you’re doing.” I think he was flummoxed by them on the page. Which makes me wonder if they flummox other folks. Hmm.
Congrats, Joe! I have warm memories of the patio Book Bar reading where we heard those poems I’d read silently before attending come to new life in your reading of them.
Thanks, Art! I was in a daze when I wrote it, so….
🙂
Got to attend the CAL award ceremony online and was delighted you won with this new collection. The title poem is dazzling.
Thanks, Marjorie and Art! I’ve enjoyed your books as well and look forward to more. Keep ’em comin’!
Congratulations, Joe. I had hoped to congratulate you in person at the CAL awards event, but will have to do it here. I, like Marjorie have read the book twice.
Congratulations, Joe! I am happy for you and the book, which I have read twice.