I take great pleasure in pursuing spectacular poems. And given how much poetry is being published at this point, this is not not an easy task. So much good work is being published! So aside from looking for work by the poets I admire, I look for editors with great taste. Or magazines and presses who consistently rely on editors with great taste.
These are some of the poems I’ve found that are spectacular! Or I think they are, at least.
-
“Central Oregon,” by Patty Nash
I have to admit, I read Patty Nash‘s “Central Oregon” while I was reading Laynie Browne’s book, Translation of the Lilies Back Into Lists, so I was attuned to lists. I was aware that a list doesn’t just have to be items, but it can be playing with items. Like in Browne’s book, where the…
-
“When is the comet coming…?” by Rushing Pittman
I’m not sure how familiar people are with that Stephen Crane poem (In the Desert) where the poet meets this creature in the desert. And it’s holding its heart “in his hands.” And it’s eating it. “It’s bitter.” The creature tells the poet. But bitterness isn’t the tone Crane is going for. This moment is…
-
“the night club,” by Nora Claire Miller
The prose form in Nora Claire Miller’s poem is, for me, the key to its invention, or it’s what exaggerates the invention into the form. Everything is crowded, because prose can often do that to a poem. Make it crowded. Make the images feel more like a bunch of inflatable pool toys you’re trying to…