American Poet
Enjoyed my latest issue of American Poet magazine, especially Danez Smith's new poems "mail" and "basic standards test." Really interested in his studies on the racial issues working in both gay sexuality and standardized testing. There's also a passionate and rational essay by Mark Wunderlich about the dangers of reading Sylvia Plath's poetry through her biography:
"What are we to make of criticism…by Terry Castle and others who examine and judge the poet for, among other things, having been sexually active as a younger woman? And why are we asked to consider what sort of mother she might have been….Do people really have opinions about the sort of father Ted Hughes might have been? I suspect they don't."
This reminds me that all poetry is ultimately political and people read into not only poetry but the lives of their poets with political ends.
I once had an argument with visiting Sarah Lawrence professor David Rivard about M.S. Merwin. He suggested I read him. I hated him. After taking the Modern & Contemporary Poetry MOOC and after reading the Merwin review by Edward Hirsh, I seem to be opening up on this guy. Oh, they innocence and passion of youth. What can I say? You find your books when you find your books. Not sooner. Not later. There's also a manuscript study on Robert Lowell's poem "Epilogue" that I enjoyed.
And a review in the back of David Trinidad's new book Peyton Place: A Haiku Soap Opera made me go out and buy one of his older books, The Late Show because his poems on pop culture attracted me but I never watched Peyton Place so didn't feel this book would be a great place to start.
Today's Pillar of Poetry: The Scottish Poetry Library
The Annual Review from the Scottish Poetry Library reminded me why I freakin love this organization so much. And no, I don't love them so much because my name sounds so Scottish (McCray) or because my maiden name (Ladd) sounded so Scottish either. I'm sure I'm yoked up with quite a bit of Scottish but my family pride and mythology doesn't venture far back past the New World.
No, I love them because they are so good at it. Their annual review even has style. I even read the damn annual review! I love them because they love the anonymous book sculptures. I love them because they produced pocket-sized anthologies of poetry for medical graduates with poems chosen to "provide emotional support to new doctors." One thankful doctor said, "just the thing to help doctors maintain and develop their humanity in the face of protocols and tickboxes."
They also had a program to connect poets to historians called the Ghost of War sessions.
I love them because they truly and creatively reach out beyond the bubble of typical poetry communities.
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