Just returned from the party at City Lights Bookstore. You can check out the finalists for the other categories at the National Book Critics Circle blog Critical Mass, but since I’m on both the NBCC board and on Harriet, I thought I’d post the poetry finalists here.
I cannot disclose the nature of the discussion that took place at the meeting where we narrowed down the lists to the top five candidates, nor can I tell you who I voted for or against, or even whether I’m happy with the finalists or not, all I can say is that it’s a very fair and democratic process (which is addressed, for the curious, on the NBCC website).
There are always surprises, and it’s never clear until the very day of the awards ceremony in New York City who will receive the honor. All I can say is good luck on March 6 to the folks responsible for the five following poetry books:
Mary Jo Bang, Elegy, Graywolf
Matthea Harvey, Modern Life, Graywolf
Michael O’Brien, Sleeping and Waking, Flood Editions
Tom Pickard, The Ballad of Jamie Allan, Flood Editions
Tadeusz Rozewicz, New Poems, Archipelago
Any thoughts?
Interesting choices. Better than a group of usual suspects, but not what I experienced as the most important collections to appear. Each of the above choices show strengths in one of the many ways one wants poems in a collection to work. There were plenty of individual collections that showed significant growth for the art in a number of ways. Cate Marvin’s Fragment of the Head of a Queen is just one example of a book that shows some genuine moxie.
Great to see the small(ish) presses getting their due here!