The art of Poetry magazine August 2, 2012: For the first fifty-seven years of Poetry’s history, the table of contents served as the cover of every issue. In October of 1969, Virgil Burnett changed all that. Under his art direction, each new issue of Poetry had a distinctive illustration on its cover. Burnett served as the magazine’s Art Director through the December 1973 issue, and his [...] by Lindsay Garbutt

Prufrock, Adamantine Stupidity, Tennessee Williams, and Latin American Modernists July 3, 2012: We talk a lot about poets' first appearances in Poetry and one of the most influential, and most frequently mentioned, is T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” The poem appeared in the June 1915 issue of Poetry and at the time of its publication, as his biographical note observes, Eliot had “published nothing hitherto in [...] by Lindsay Garbutt

Fugitives, works in progress, young Duncan, and Marianne Moore May 31, 2012: Our popular annual translation and Q&A issues are part of a long tradition of special issues that have focused on such subjects as the Objectivists (edited by Louis Zukovsky), Chinese poetry, and post-war Italian poetry. This month we’d like to draw attention to two issues in particular: the May 1932 and April-May 1965. Poetry's May 1932 [...] by Lindsay Garbutt

Pound’s “Station,” Lorca’s “Rider,” and Berryman’s “Traveler” May 2, 2012: In April 1913, Ezra Pound published a series of poems under the title "Contemporania" in Poetry. The final poem in the group is one of Pound's most well-known (and frequently memorized) poems, the two-line "In a Station of the Metro," above. Ezra Pound published work in Poetry from its first issue and was Poetry’s long-time foreign [...] by Lindsay Garbutt

From Poetry Magazine: The “Unfashionable Historic Personage” April 2, 2012: Looking through the Poetry archive this past month, we came across the above letter from Conrad Aiken in the March 1964 issue. Aiken's letter is a response to James L. Dickey's review of his book The Morning Song of Lord Zero in the December 1963 issue. Dickey cuts to the chase: The course of poetry appears to have turned away from Conrad [...] by Lindsay Garbutt

Translation is Treason March 7, 2012: Our annual translation issue returns this month with poems that span several centuries and continents. The oldest poem in the issue, from the thirteenth century, appears in a portfolio from Peter Cole’s recently released book, The Poetry of Kabbalah: The Nut Garden holds things felt and thought And feeling for thought is always a [...] by Lindsay Garbutt

Tagore’s Soul and Raymond Carver’s “Happiness” February 29, 2012: Diving into the Poetry magazine archives, we came across this minimal ad for Rabindranath Tagore’s Sheaves: Poems and Songs on the back of the February 1933 issue: New poems by India’s beloved prophet and seer, whose verse, like his life, is distinguished by simplicity, strength and delicacy. Poetry introduced Tagore to the [...] by Lindsay Garbutt

A horse with bird-like wings February 17, 2012: Want to learn more about the Pegasus gracing this month’s cover? February’s Pegasus was created by the inimitable Felix Sockwell, who has a fascinating and, appropriately, very visual post about creating the cover on his blog. Click through to see the instructions we sent to each of the artists (“Anything goes as long as it’s a [...] by Lindsay Garbutt

Double murders & Pound in pidgin February 1, 2012: If you've taken a peek at the January issue of Poetry, you might have noticed something new on the last page. In honor of Poetry's centennial, each month the magazine will be reprinting an artifact from the magazine's history at the back of the issue. Paul Durica has been combing through Poetry's archives month-by-month and he surfaces each [...] by Lindsay Garbutt