For Poets and Poems this week, we feature Poet Billy Collins’ new collection, Aimless Love–a welcome addition to his body of work.
Poets and Poems: Sam Willetts and “New Light for the Old Dark”
Poets and Poems highlights “New Light for the Old Dark” by Sam Willetts, which combines individual and family history for an effect both personal and universal.
Poets and Poems: 99 Psalms by SAID
Poets and Poems features the German poet SAID’s new collection of poetry, 99 Psalms, which is less about worship and more about our human condition.
Poets and Poems: Talking About Movies with Jesus
A review of David Kirby’s “Talking About Movies with Jesus: Poems” that uses the style of the poems as the structure of the review.
Poets and Poems: Seamus Heaney
Appreciating poets and poems even more by reading Seamus Heaney’s “Opened Ground” alongside Frank O’Driscoll’s “Stepping Stones, ” whose interviews add depth to the poems.
Poetry Review: Frank Bidart’s “Metaphysical Dog”
Frank Bidart’s latest poetry collection, Metaphysical Dog, should be read as one long poem rather than 39 individual poems.
Is Poetry Going to the Dogs?
What he did for cats, Francesco Marciuliano has now done for dogs: “I Could Chew on This, and Other Poems by Dogs.”
Now Look Who’s Writing Poetry: Cats
Cats write poems about family, work, play, and existence in I Could Pee on This by Francesco Marciuliano.
Poetry at Work: The Work of a Poet Laureate
Ava Leavell Haymon was recently named Louisiana’s poet laureate. Walter Bargen, a former poet laureate for Missouri, has some insights into what that means.
Poet Focus: Mark Jarman
Mark Jarman’s poetry is such that one gets interested in his background, personality, where he comes from, and how all this finds its way into his poems.
Poetry Review: Mark Jarman’s “Bone Fires”
A review of “Bone Fires: News and Selected Poems, ” by Mark Jarman, notes his development of the themes of family, faith, and doubt.
Poetry Review: The Submerged Depths of Lapse Americana
A review of Lapse Americana: Poems by Benjamin Myers, a poetry volume focused on memory, childhood and understanding.
Poetry at Work: What Poetry Brings to Business
In “What Poetry Brings to Business, ” Clare Morgan combines academic and business styles to explain the benefits poetry can provide to business enterprises.
The Poetry of Riffraff
It’s not a new thing for a poet to take common everyday things, the riffraff of our lives, and use them to signify or explain something larger. Glynn Young reviews Stephen Cushman’s “Riffraff: Poems” with special attention to the unique ways Cushman makes something of the riffraff.
Poetry and Memory: Thomas Lux’s “Child Made of Sand”
“Child Made of Sand” is not the poetry of youth; it is the poetry of wisdom and understanding. Glynn Young reviews Thomas Lux’s new collection of poems.
A Giveaway Winner for ‘Prayers of a Young Poet’
We announce the winner of the giveaway for “Prayers of a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke.
Rilke’s ‘Prayers of a Young Poet’ (And a Giveaway)
Glynn Young reviews Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Prayers of a Young Poet, ” a wonderfully engaging collection, adding new insight to both the man and his poetry.
Poetry for Isaac and Ishmael
This is not the poetry of Mideast politics but the poetry of people – peoples – caught up in Mideast politics, whether the scene is set in the Auschwitz death camp or the Aida refugee camp.
Poetry in the Sunken Garden
Madeleine did not want to go to the poetry festival in July, because no one else’s mother forces children to go to poetry festivals. She lowered her hat down over her forehead, leaving only a glower visible. No one. Else. She wanted to know why. Not a promising conversation in which to explore the ineffable […]
Seamus Heaney, Gem-Cutter
Human Chain refutes the notion that poetry is the province of the young. It’s a collection of poems that demonstrates Heaney’s love of words and language, carefully chiseled and strung together like brilliant diamonds.