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On Vitality…
David Mason I generally don’t care for omnibus reviews. They too often display what Seamus Heaney called a “faults-on-both-sides tact,” and as a result one doesn’t get a point of view so much as ad hoc approval or condemnation, often enough with less than half a dozen lines quoted from any of the books because the reviewer is so anxious to demonstrate his or her own prowess with words. Of course, that “generally” in my first sentence begs the question of particulars.Read More
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Bowled Over
There are many strong poems in the Fall 2009 issue of Poetry Northwest (New Series, Issue 8)—excellent new work by Talvikki Ansel, Christian Wiman, and D.A. Powell—with only one really dreadful clinker (William Logan‘s “Blues,” a cringe-worthy black-face performance). But one poem in particular drew me back and back through its lines: “One Love,” by Kenneth Fields. It so bowled me over that I jumped online and ordered two of his books.Read More
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Post and Riposte
Here’s a comment I made in reply to a post by Travis Nichols on the Harriet blog. Yes, this is a post about a post to a post! And it contains a riposte…. I posted this reply to Greg Rappleye’s “Not again, Billy” post “Logan continues to be one of the nastiest, shallowest reviewers around. He wears his cleverness like a cheap cologne (remember English Leather?), and the odor—part anger, part envy, part groundless vanity—is overwhelming. His atrocious poetry gives off the same reek, laced with a dash of sour malaise.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. 
