October 2008
Poems by Sarah Lindsay, Adrian Blevins, Craig Arnold, John Repp, Eric Ekstrand, Laura Kasischke, D.A. Powell, John Hennessy, Jill Osier, Maurice Manning, Derek Sheffield; and more

Mary Ann Hoberman Named Children's Poet Laureate

Whether writing about llamas in pajamas or befuddled fauna, her poems are always about the puzzlement of language.

Albert Goldbarth Wins Mark Twain Award for Humorous Poetry

America's funniest bard doesn't just win awards, he also collects robots and rocket ships.

Meet the Beetles
BY Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Linda Pastan captures the sound of mortality in “The Deathwatch Beetle,” echoing Poe's “The Tell-Tale Heart.”


Albert Goldbarth Wins Mark Twain Award for Humorous Poetry
Albert Goldbarth interviewed by Richard Siken
America's funniest bard doesn't just win awards, he also collects robots and rocket ships.


Something Antlered This Way Comes
BY Toby Eckert
How Elizabeth Bishop devoted 20 years to immortalizing a moment in her classic poem "The Moose."


The Rebirth of a Suicidal Genius
BY Lucie Brock-Broido
Thomas James died obscure at 27 in 1974, then became a cult hero. Now Graywolf republishes his lost, legendary Letters to a Stranger.


Hope You Like Slammin' Too
Karyna McGlynn and Ragan Fox interviewed by Jeremy Richards
Slam poets Karyna McGlynn and Ragan Fox explain why they're compelled to leap right off the page and into your face.


Hear the Essential American Poets
BY The Editors
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall picked over 100 of the century's best poets—now listen to them read their best work in a new PF podcast series.


The Title Above the Name
BY Michael Atkinson
Don't judge a poetry book by its cover—judge it by the very first words you see.


He Fancied Nancy
BY Jordan Davis
How poet/artist Joe Brainard's transgressive passion for the spiky-haired comics icon inspired him to invent poetry comics (with a little help from Ted Berrigan).


Reading Guide: Seamus Heaney’s “Casualty”
BY Joshua Weiner
A highly reader-friendly explanation of an Irish war elegy by the most popular living poet in our language. Master a masterpiece in one easy sitting.


Home Appreciation
BY Susan Thomsen
Homeschoolers are turning a million kids on to poetry—through fun, not homework. Here's how you can do it too.


God's Little Brother
BY Kazim Ali
Lucille Clifton's poem "brothers" shines a bright new light on Lucifer, who answers God in a whirlwind of verse.


And the Winner Is . . . Pindar!
BY Stephen Burt
Can any modern poet beat the world record Pindar set 25 centuries ago?


Changing Things
BY Elizabeth Mills
A selection of A.R. Ammons's watercolors.


Girls Interrupted
BY Carla Blumenkranz
Poet Sarah Manguso survived exotic disease; Lavinia Greenlaw survived punk rock. Both recaptured the past in memoirs so vivid they verge on verse.


The One and the Many
BY Rachel Aviv
How revolutionary was Mao’s poetry?


Poet for a Year
BY Steve Almond
Tired of plot and pacing, a prose writer immersed himself in the world of verse—and lived to tell the tale.


Craft Vs. Conscience
BY Ange Mlinko
How the Vietnam War destroyed the friendship between Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov.


Poetry by the Numbers
BY Gary Rudoren
Eight shortcuts to writing timeless odes and getting $$$ for it!


Origin of the Species
BY Jesse Nathan
Shel Silverstein's unusual route to becoming a beloved children's author.


The Energies of Words
BY Peter O'Leary
How Poetry's legendary 1931 Objectivist issue came to be, from Pound's harangues to Zukofsky's essays.

FEATURES FROM POETRY

"There's Something Haunting and Nihilistic About Your Hairdresser"
BY THE EDITORS
Previously unpublished letters between Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop.


The Hart Crane Controversy
BY WILLIAM LOGAN
If you happen to be a critic, it may come as a shock that not all readers share your opinions.


Why Is the Great American Poem So Hard to Write?
BY JASON GURIEL
A poem, not just poetry. That’s what our era is lacking, claims a growing chorus of pundits…