| |
|
| 1990
|
|
The
World Doesn't End
PS
3569 I4725 W67 |
Charles
Simic |
Paragraph-length
prose poems with stingers at the end. Changes thought, mixes
perspective and speaks in characters often. A lot of the
poems have the patina of ancient hatreds, wolves
and other European themes. Heavy
on Nietsche. Big
on fables. All in all, a very good kick-off to the 90s. In San Francisco,
on October
18, Chicagoans sweep the first national competition of a "poetry
slam", an anti-academic, pro-performance mode of delivering literature
(sic) to humans. |
| 1991
|
|
Near
Changes
PS
3543 A563 N4 |
Mona
Van Duyn |
Truly
terrible. The Poetry of Menopause. She lives in St.
Louis. Remind me never to look her up. Borzoi
Book. Who let her in? What would Auden say? Gulf War ends,
Feb. 28. Meanwhile,
the first
National Poetry Slam was held in San Francisco, and American Performance
poetry was on the move. |
| 1992
|
|
Selected
Poems
811.54
T2164.SE
|
James
Tate |
Good
book. Very "poet-y", with lots of images and simile. From "Dear
Reader": "I am trying to pry open your casket/ with this burning
snowflake." Accomplished, professional poetry-- the kind of stuff you'd
expect from the academy. This volume goes back to 1967. Here's another
good book published in this year. |
| 1993
|
|
The
Wild Iris
|
Louise
Gluck |
Haven't
found one yet. |
| 1994
|
|
Neon
Vernacular |
Yusef
Komunyakaa |
Haven't
found one yet. |
| 1995
|
|
The
Simple Truth
811.54
L66544.SI
|
Philip
Levine |
A
fine example of 1990s cover art. Seems poets were crazy to have a piece
of art on the cover
of their book. This one is 1910's Still
Life
by Henri Rousseau. Harold
Bloom blurbed this book. Here's a good set: "If she were writing
by candlelight/ She would be in the dark, for/ a living flame would refuse
to be fed/ by pure exhaustion." This guy is the real McCoy-- a serious
poet who writes about things that matter. |
| 1996
|
|
The
Dream of the Unified Field
811.54
G7395.DR |
Jorie
Graham |
Huge
focus on the indeterminate "you" in this book. A personal pet
peeve. Who's "you"? She
is descriptive as hell, slow in exposition, very Iowa-oriented. Keeping
up with the ancient theme, she's got "The
Creation of Eve" by Bartolo
de Fredi (1356) on the cover. Yes, well-crafted poems, but toward what
end? Certainly a wristful of bangles and a wry look in the author photo. |
| 1997
|
|
Alive
Together: New and Selected Poems
811.54
M9465.AL |
Lisel
Mueller |
A
straightforward poet. As close to a Chicago poet as we can get for the Pulitzer,
at least until the chafe dies off. She says, "between these bones--/
I live here." For some reason, the book was published in Baton
Rouge, Lousiana (where Ms. Mueller teaches) and London a the same time.
Always amazed at that concept. The same time? The exact same time? |
| 1998
|
|
Black
Zodiac
811.54
W9483.BL
|
Charles
Wright |
I
think this guy is good, and people I respect like him, but I just couldn't
get into this book. They reach back to the T'ang
Dynasty to pick up some art from Huai
Su for the cover. Thematically, continues in the dense Iowan-style winners.
Adept, decent poetry. Only problem is that is doesn't go
anywhere, do anything. Poetry must. |
| 1999
|
|
Blizzard
of One
811.54
S8975.BL |
Mark
Strand |
The
best of the 1990s cover wars. It is a collage
created by Strand himself. There is a quite serious-looking full-size photo
of the author on the back, all wool-jacketed and scarved. This is the answer
to the question, "what
does a Pulitzer-winning poet look like?" Good stuff here: "'I
will love the 21st century.'/ 'Oh', I said, putting my hat on, 'Oh'." |
|
