A Poetry Daily Prose Feature:
"There will... be those worried by the betrayal of the 'task of the translator'. When Ezra Pound first published his 'Homage to Sextus Propertius' a Professor of Latin was moved by lines like this—'Nor is it equipped with a frigidaire patent'—to write complaining of Pound's competence. The reply, beginning 'Cat-piss and porcupines!!', seems mild in the circumstances. I promise to respond in like vein to critics who manage to notice all by themselves that there were no tanks in Powys in the 850s. What is at issue is what Hugh Kenner called 'cultural subject-rhyme'—and, if it can be carried off, the topological transformation, as it were, of the 'co-ordinates' of the original poem. In any case, better mendacities than the classics in paraphrase. Yesterday cannot be today, for 'Wales cannot endlessly remain / chasing sheep into the twilight'." —Harry Gilonis, 'Not altogether dark': Some Remarks on My unHealed Poems
Poet laureate of Virginia:
Claudia Emerson, a past Pulitzer and Carole Weinstein Prize winner, has been named to the post. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
"Moments of piercing clarity:"
Birdsong on the Seabed, by Elena Shvarts, translated by Sasha Dugdale, reviewed by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin. (The Irish Times)
Poet's Choice:
Mary Karr introduces poems by Meghan O'Rourke. (The Washington Post)
“I am glad not to live near her:"
Miranda Seymour reviews Brenda Wineapple's White Heat. (The New York Times)
"The harsh and the humorous together:"
Seán Rocks talks with Pádraig O'Moráin about his debut collection, You've Been Great. (Audio from The Arts Show and RTÉ Radio 1)
Poetry 2 Nite!
Catherine Foley talks with Irish poets and writers about the summer literary festival season. (The Irish Times)
American Life in Poetry:
Ted Kooser introduces a poem by Gary Dop. (American Life in Poetry)
Saif Ghobash-Banipal Prize for literary translation from Arabic:
Fady Joudah, translator of Mahmoud Darwish's collection The Butterfly's Burden honored with this year's prize. (Guardian)
Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition:
Kate Miller wins the inaugural competition. (Guardian)
"A stylistic equivalent for the struggles of imperfect mortals:"
Robert Pinsky celebrates John Milton's continuing influence, 400 years after his birth. (Slate)
A "commitment to print, to the book, the pamphlet and the little magazine."
Seamus Heaney: A Bibliography 1959-2003, by Rand Brandes and Michael A Durkan, reviewed by John McAuliffe. (The Irish Times)
Carol Rumens: Poem of the Week
Carol Rumens introduces a poem by Steve Bailey. (Guardian)
Recently Arrived Titles
These just in... Highlighted titles may be purchased from Poetry Daily / Amazon.com. A complete
list of all books and journals recently received at Poetry Daily is also available.
- Reality Check, Dennis O'Driscoll (Copper Canyon Press)
- Jeremiah, Ohio, Adam Sol (House of Anansi Press)
- Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences: A Writer's Guide to Avoiding the Most Common Errors in Grammar and Punctuation, Janis Bell (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.)
- The Fractured World, Scott Owens (Main Street Rag)
- There Are Birds, John Taggart (Flood Editions)
- Inverse Sky, John Isles (University of Iowa Press)
- The Question of Rapture, Claire Keyes (Mayapple Press)
- The Light at the Edge of Everything, Lisa Zimmerman (Anhinga Press)
- Unraveling the Bed, Mia Leonin (Anhinga Press)
- What's Right about What's Wrong, Donna Trussell (Helicon Nine Editions)
- How I Came to Love Jazz, Phyllis Becker (Helicon Nine Editions)
- Europa, Moniza Alvi (Bloodaxe Books)
- Split World: Poems 1990-2005, Moniza Alvi (Bloodaxe Books)
- After the Poison, Collin Kelley (Finishing Line Press)
- A Quiet Adjustment: A Novel, Benjamin Markovits (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.)
Recent Anthologies, etc.
- White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Brenda Wineapple (Alfred A. Knopf)
- Best Thought, Worst Thought: On Art, Sex, Work and Death, Don Paterson (Graywolf Press)
- 100 Essential Modern Poems by Women, ed. Joseph Parisi and Kathleen Welton (Ivan R. Dee, Publisher)
- The Monster Loves His Labyrinth: Notebooks, Charles Simic (Ausable Press)
- Quote Poet Unquote: Contemporary Quotations on Poets and Poetry, ed. Dennis O'Driscoll (Copper Canyon Press)
- All That Mighty Heart: London Poems, ed. Lisa Russ Spaar (University of Virginia Press)
- The Making of a Sonnet: A Norton Anthology, ed. Edward Hirsch and Eavan Boland (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.)
- The Art of the Poetic Line, James Longenbach (Graywolf Press)
- The Art of Attention: A Poet's Eye, Donald Revell (Graywolf Press)
- The Modern Element: Essays on Contemporary Poetry, Adam Kirsch (Norton)
- Poetry Daily Essentials 2007, Diane Boller, Don Selby, ed.s (Sourcebooks)
Past Features:
Original
articles, interviews, selections from special collections and journal issues, and more are available in the Archives.
