Poet T.S. Eliot wrote that "April is the cruelest month." It's also, interestingly enough, National Poetry Month. And although it's doubtful that members of Academy of American Poets were thinking of Eliot's despairing verse when they first introduced the month long celebration in 1996, there is a certain (cruel?) irony in the selection. After all, too many Americans consider having to read poetry a kind of punishment, one to be avoided at all costs.
It doesn't have to be that way. Schools, libraries and private groups often take advantage of the occasion to introduce novel and lively ways to introduce a sometimes skeptical public to the beauty and sheer pleasure of poetry. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to write about some recent publications in the genre for the second year in a row. I hope it may, in some small way, encourage readers to explore some of the innovative, lively--and often challenging--volumes available.
Guest editor Heather McHugh is not above having a little fun in 1997 volume of "The Best American Poetry." A spirit of linguistic play dominates many of the selections McHugh, a champion of "the textures of a text" has chosen. There are a number of works by relatively unknown poets, and it's not surprising that these tend toward the experimental. Many of them also tend toward the playful as well. Even a stalwart like Billy Collins is seen at his most spirited--and daring.
The volume has had its critics, and that's to be expected. But while academics and other writers may argue over the merits of individual poems and McHugh's overall approach, the anthology remains effective both as a work unto itself (it actually flows) and as an introduction for general readers to individual poets and the genre as a whole. The "Contributors' Notes and Comments" section is extensive and gives readers genuine insight into the creative process behind each poem.
Scribner's has been publishing "The Best American Poetry" series for twenty years. A more recent addition to popular anthologies--and a very welcome one--is Samovar Press's "Best New Poets" series, the 2007 edition being only the third installment. The series is devoted to "emerging writers," i.e. those who may have been published in small presses but who have yet to publish a full-length volume of poetry (although some have been announced). The volume is relatively slight: fifty selections in all. Many of the contributors have been associated with MFA programs, but most are already mature writers with distinct voices.
If there is a certain freedom from expectation in reading the works of "emerging writers," encountering the work of more established figures may seem a little more daunting. They have the imprimatur of critics and scholars, after all, and the reader may feel obligated to come to grips with their "greatness." In the case of former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, however, there's little need for intimidation. Pinsky's language is always clear, his imagery striking. His humor is always evident but never glib. His latest volume, "Gulf Music" embraces the political and the personal, objects and ideas, what can be readily expressed and that which is ineffable. A profoundly moving work.
Equally striking in a very different way is the posthumous collection of "Unrecounted/Unerzaehlt," a collection of haiku-like "micro-poems" by the celebrated German novelist and poet W.G. Sebald. Each poem is accompanied by lithographs supplied by the author's lifelong friend Jan Peter Tripp. The visual images are as haunting as the "micro-poems" themselves: the eyes of celebrated artists and writers throughout history--and oh, yes, the author's dog as well. They are less illustrative of the writing than they are complementary. The work seems slight at first, but its effects linger.
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