Today Jonathan Mayhew at ¡Bemsha SWING! offers a fond glance backward at 2006 as a year of stimulating comment box disputes, while John Latta brilliantly deconstructs Ron Silliman’s faux scholasticism while examining The Library of America’s edition of Poe’s Essays and Reviews. I admire both of these writers but prefer Tom Montag’s “Lines for November 17,” which captures my own mood of late. Montag, it seems to me, does what poets are supposed to do: he embraces and articulates recognitions that matter. Instead of rattling upward with a noisy personal helicopter of Theory strapped to his back, Tom climbs and veers and hovers on his own wings, under his own power. It’s good to know he’s out there.
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. 
