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Give Poetry This Holiday Season! |
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Museletter Correspondents' Picks
Every week our network of correspondents brings you poetry news, notes, views & reviews from all across North America & beyond in the About Poetry Museletter. They are poets & poetry lovers, our eyewitnesses in the many centers of contemporary poetry performance & publication, so we asked them to select their favorite poetry items for your holiday gift list this year. Their suggestions are listed below, a little help for your last-minute shopping.
And on page 2 of this article is Bob Holman's own Poetry Wish List 2000, a roundup of the best CDs and books of the year. Merry Christmas, Cheery Chanukah, Kool Kwanzaa, Happy New Year & may Poetry be with you all!
Bob Holman & Margy Snyder
VICTOR INFANTE (Orange County):
The two big front-runners for "best poetry gift" this holiday should be obvious: The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, edited by Alan Kaufman and S.A. Griffin (Avalon New York, 1999), and Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry, edited by Gary Mex Glazner (Manic D Press, 2000). These two books capture the current of contemporary poetry better than any others in recent memory.
But to be a little outside the box, Faber & Faber has recently reissued what is, to my mind, the greatest poetry anthology ever: The Rattle Bag, edited by Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney (Faber & Faber, 1985). The premise of this book is simple -- these two great poets sat down and collected their favorite poems of all time, then ordered them alphabetically by title. It includes work from Sylvia Plath, e.e. cummings, William Shakespeare, Native American traditional chants and more. This is a wonderful sampler of poetry throughout the ages.
MARJ HAHNE (Philadelphia):
My favorites:
- The Collected Poems: 1952 - 1990 by Yevgeny Yevtushenko (Henry Holt & Co., 1992)
- Rux Revue by Carl Hancock Rux (Sony 550 Music, 1999)
LEONARDO DELLAROCCA (Miami):
I have two picks for Xmas books to give:
- Rough Music: Poems by Deborah Digges (Knopf, 1997)
- A Gilded Lapse of Time by Gerjtud Schnackenberg (Farrar, Strous & Giroux, 1994)
TA'SHIA ASANTI (Denver):
I couldn't choose only one favorite to recommend. Here's my gift list:
- The Words Don't Fit in My Mouth by Jessica Care Moore (Moore Black Press, 1997)
- Leimert Park CD by Kamau Daa'ood (Mama Foundation, 1997)
- Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums: Love Poems by Sonia Sanchez (Beacon Press, 1998)
- Wounded in the House of a Friend by Sonia Sanchez (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1997)
- The LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka Reader by Amiri Baraka (2nd edition, Avalon New York, 1999)
- Heartlove: Wedding & Love Poems by Haki Madhubuti (Third World Press, 1999)
- Until Today: Daily Devotions for Spiritual Growth and Peace of Mind by Iyanla Vanzant (Simon & Schuster, 2000)
ROBYN SU MILLERZ (Boston):
My favorite-favorite-favorite gift idea for the poet/s in your life: book darts! And no, I'm not that dart-crazy. I fell for these book darts before I bought my Dodge Dart. I saw them in a fabulous book store in Davis Square, Somerville, just a block from the Davis T stop on the Red Line. Book darts are glorified paper clips. They're brass arrows you use to mark your place in a book... right down to the line. What better way to easily flip to that favorite poem, or favorite line in a favorite poem? And there are two ways to give: for a coupla bucks you can get a modest number of book darts in an elegant little envelope. Or for a bit more you can get a mega amount in a small, appealing tin. Be ready to buy one set for yourself, because you'll definitely want them!
GARY GLAZNER (Santa Fe):
Spring Essence: The Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong, translated by John Balaban (Copper Canyon Press, 2000). The new Rumi! Vietnamese poet circa 1775. She would fit into any slam, poet's cafe, or Mission Street dive today. Check it out:
My body is like the jackfruit on the branch:
my skin is coarse, my meat thick.
Kind sir, if you love me, pierce me with your stick.
Caress me and sap will slicken your hands.
On Copper Canyon Press -- you can pick it up at better bookstores, or online at the link here. Go Ho, go...
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