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Oh, and philosophers don't want to be millionaires either. Actually, the two
professions aren't terribly different --- it's just that poets do their
waxing in verse, while philosophers opt for lengthy treatises. But this is
getting away from our original point, which is:
Poetry is not a lucrative profession. And this logically translates
into...few people actually read poetry.
Right now, there are probably two questions struggling toward articulation in
your mind: (1) Why, if poetry doesn't pay, do people continue to devote their
lives to its creation?, and (2) Why --- when the dawning of each new day
brings a new, supposedly genius wordsmith, and recent studies show that
people are reading more than ever before --- is poetry still more often than
not a sub-minimum wage vocation?
The answer to the first of these inquiries is quite simple: Because they
cannot help it. Because they love the medium and cannot help being a poet any
more than you can help being an accountant (this, of course, is a joke at
your expense because, unless you are a very rare breed, you can absolutely
help being an accountant. In fact, had your parents not stressed the
importance of practicality and planning for the future, you'd probably be a
professional mime, living on a commune right now).
Query number two, while slightly more complicated, is still quite answerable.
For one, poetry --- unlike every other literary pursuit nowadays --- is never
adapted for television or film and that, as we all know, is where the big
bucks are. Second, America's new book Buddha, Ms. Oprah Winfrey, rarely
recommends poetry to her worshiping minions (maybe she never does...I only
watch the shows about red-flag relationships with Iyanla Vanzant). Finally, I
have a feeling that the majority of today's mainstream readership is utterly
terrified of poetry.
You heard me. We (notice how I include myself) are all a bunch of chickens,
scared off by a few strategically arranged, foreshortened sentences. Ever
since high school, when forced to suffer through the most torturous poem in
the history of the world --- the ever so rousing "Ode on a Grecian Urn" ---
we have been terrified/irritated by poetry and all its hidden meanings,
duplicitous language, and extended metaphors.
The thing is, not all poems are like "Ode on a Grecian Urn." True, poetry
often demands a slightly heightened level of thought and concentration; but I
swear, for the most part, you don't need a critical companion or decoder ring
to enjoy it. Nor, for that matter, is all poetry as --- for lack of a more
literary-establishment-acceptable word --- boring as "Beowulf" (yet another
traumatic poetry experience that, no doubt, still leaves thousands of
incredulous students each year asking, "Why?"). Take Robert Hass (link to
Amazon), for example (my favorite poet). His work is beautiful and sexy and
funny and insightful and honest and as compulsively readable as anything
Oprah would endorse.
Enough lecturing (particularly from someone whose favorite poet
was picked from a sampling of 10). I suggest a giant group therapy
session. And since, as that annoying saying goes, there is no better
way to overcome your fears than to meet them head on, I further
suggest we all continue on down this page and actually read the
short reviews of some of the more notable poetry books published
this year.
 LEARNING
HUMAN: Selected Poems
Les A. Murray
Farrar Straus & Giroux
ISBN: 0374527237
LEARNING HUMAN is a selection of Murray's work, dating back to 1965. A native
of the wild and untamed land of New South Wales, Murray frequently plunges
into the war between nature and civilization in his lively verses. He writes
of what it means to be human --- specifically in a landscape of hard-worked
farms, mill towns, and bleak, unrelenting poverty. At the same time, he
celebrates the world around him in poems teeming with animals and emotional
vitality.
MEMOIR OF THE HAWK: Poems
James Tate
Ecco Press
ISBN: 0066210178
Winner of both the National Book Award and The Pulitzer Prize, Tate is always
fresh and startling --- an absurdist-realist, if such a contradiction exists.
His poems are glimpses into truly bizarre situations and yet they are cloaked
in the banality of the everyday world. To read Tate is to walk the fine line
between the sparkling, witty realm of language and the gray kingdom of
reality.
 BEFORE
TIME COULD CHANGE THEM: The Complete Poems of Constantine P. Cavafy
Constantine P. Cavafy
Harcourt Brace
ISBN: 0151005192
Poet Cavafy never published a single book in his lifetime; he preferred
to pass his works out in leaflets or let his friends circulate them.
Cavafy has come into prominence since his death, however, and this
collection contains all his authorized works in the poet's thematic
order --- including 9 poems never before translated into English.
His verses range from brilliant reworkings of classical myths to
paeans to erotic love. This anthology, with its undercurrent of
the beauties of youth, joy, and art, is a must for anyone who longs
to immerse themselves in Cavafy's rich, embracing words.
FIRST LOVES: Poets Introduce the Essential Poems That Captivated
and Inspired Them
edited by Carmela Ciuraru
Scribner
ISBN: 0684864398
Ciuraru, former editor of the Journal of the Poetry Society of America,
collected poignant and intimate essay answers from her favorite poets about
their "first times." Rather than being about finding a person with whom to
fall in love, she asked poets to describe their prime experience with verse.
The poets, many of whom are Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winners,
marvelously describe the poems that inspired them to write. This collection
is a delight for any word lover.
BEGIN AGAIN: Collected Poems
Grace Paley
Farrar Straus & Giroux
ISBN: 0374527245
BEGIN AGAIN combines selections from Paley's two previous volumes as well as
new and unpublished poems. This work is that of an old hand: Paley's terse,
simple way of stating things comes off as if she were giving voice to the
words tumbling through her mind, rather than working hard to craft poems.
There is no pretense with her poetry; it just flows across and down the page.
Teacher, activist, and National Book Award-winner, Paley's verse travels
naturally across the page and into the reader's heart.
GODS AND MORTALS: Modern Poems on Classical Myths
edited by Nina Kossman
Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195133412
Kossman,
a translator and poet, selected more than 300 poems from the greatest
poets of the 20th century, each of which offers provocative spins
on the myths of antiquity. The poems are grouped under headings
such as "Lovers" and "Trespassers;" within these, chapters are devoted
to prominent gods, goddesses, and the mortals amongst whom they
played. For example, the romantic follies of Zeus are dwelt upon
by poets as disparate as Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Graves, and
Frank O'Hara. The poems in this anthology are as immortal as the
deities that inspired them.
PLOT
Claudia Rankine
Grove Press
ISBN: 080213792X
Lauded
as Rankine's most mature and evocative collection to date, PLOT
is a postmodern dialogue between an expectant young couple. As Liv
and Erland pass into parenthood, Rankine chronicles their reflections,
thoughts, dreams, and conversations --- in verse, dialogue, and
prose --- about pregnancy, artistic expression, and the inevitable
self-actualization brought about by the birth a child. An instinctual
and artful contemplation on the human body and its wondrous creations,
PLOT is a welcome addition to Rankine's small but impressive oeuvre.
THE BEFORELIFE: Poems
Franz Wright
Knopf
ISBN: 0375411542
In
this latest collection, THE BEFORELIFE, Franz Wright traces his
own personal journey back from the brink of self-destruction. With
these honest yet unaffected poems Wright relives the isolation of
depression and addiction as well as the breathlessly exhilarating
discovery of love and spirituality. The son of poet James Wright,
with THE BEFORELIFE the junior Wright has certainly proven himself
to be a poetic force in his own right.
THE BEAUTY OF THE HUSBAND: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos
Anne Carson
Knopf
ISBN: 0375408045
A fictional
essay based on Keats's idea that "beauty is truth," THE BEAUTY OF
THE HUSBAND is a voluptuous, lyrical, intimate and approachably
erudite story of a marriage in decline. Throughout these 29 "tangos"
Carson contemplates the irresolvable yet irrepressible need for
that all-too-familiar admixture: beauty and love. Indeed, THE BEAUTY
OF THE HUSBAND, like a tango, "is something you have to dance to
the end."
THE SEVEN AGES
Louise Glück
Ecco Press
ISBN: 0060185260
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize (THE WILD IRIS, 1993), the National Book Critics
Circle Award, and the William Carlos Williams Award, Louise Glück has been
cultivating a wider and wider audience since the 1970s with her deceptively
simple language. Though still retaining her signature spartan style, with THE
SEVEN AGES Glück achieves a new level of soul-baring intimacy with the
reader. A "heavier" examination of self, to be sure, THE SEVEN AGES takes the
reader on an autobiographical journey, forcing him/her to bare witness to the
excavation of the hidden truths of Glück's mind/heart.
THE STREET OF CLOCKS: Poems
Thomas Lux
Houghton Mifflin
ISBN: 0618086242
A slim
but substantial collection, THE STREET OF CLOCKS marks Thomas Lux's
first all-new volume in seven years. Narrated from the perspective
of a man who is both inspired by and irritated with the world (a
condition we've all experienced, haven't we?). Lux's song-like monologues
invoke vivid images of rural America --- from deserts to jungles
to swamps to expansive backyards.
THE COLLECTED POEMS OF KATHLEEN RAINE
Kathleen Raine
Counterpoint
ISBN: 1582431353
A long overlooked poet of considerable talent, Kathleen Raine has been
writing a kind of intimate, naturalist, mystical poetry since 1943, when she
published her first collection. Now 92, Raine has selected the poems
contained within THE COLLECTED POEMS to stand as the final representation of
her life's work. A poet of great vision and sensitivity, Raine will be
remembered --- and one day lauded, no doubt --- for her unwavering belief
that "poetry and religion are the same thing."
Last thing: If you really want to get into the spirit of National Poetry
Month, go vote for the poet you'd most like to see on a U.S. stamp at: The Academy of American Poets
---
Lilian Newley and Lazarus Penultimate
(c)
Copyright 2001, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
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