20th century poets, A - C

Alysia Abbott’s memoir of her father, Steve Abbott, beloved San Francisco poet and editor who died of AIDS in 1992, is beautifully realized, dense with photographs, diaries and documents.

A reference page on Anna Andreevna Akhmatova, the walking history of Russian history, antihistory... the woman whose voice cuts specific and sideblades gender, who outlived her persecutors, and whose life has become a symbol of truth and integrity.

In his profile of Archie Ammons at AAP, David Lehman called him “independent, unaligned, a bit ornery, and as removed as one can be from any of poetry’s supposed centers of power... an American original.” He died on February 25, 2001 and was remembered by Robert Pinsky for PBS NewsHour, archived in streaming video.

Ammons’ poems are online at AAP, Boppin’ A Riff, Cornell University’s Arts & Sciences Newsletter, and Slate, and there’s commentary and analysis of his work at Modern American Poetry.

In Jacket magazine’s special Ashbery issue, John Tranter gave us “Three John Ashberys” (Mundane, Secondary and Transcendental). Ashbery poems and references are also collected at the Electronic Poetry Center and the materials for Professor Al Filreis’ Penn course on contemporary American poetry.

Civil servant, translator and major Turkish poet Ece Ayhan was a master of the untranslateable. His book A Blind Cat Black and Orthodoxies (translated from the Turkish by Murat Nemet-Nejat, Sun and Moon, 1997) is astonishing—too dark for surrealism, a deep mined mind at work, a subtle music.

He was born 100 years ago, died young and is most remembered for “John Brown’s Body.” His work is in the public domain now, treasured by readers who have put it up on the Net in Project Gutenberg and Poets’ Corner.

Steven Jesse Bernstein, mythologos of Seattle! How his poems continue to rise and soar! SubPop released his sensational CD, Prison, in 1992, after he committed suicide in 1991.

The AAP site has a brief bio and a good selection of Bishop’s poems, including her audio recording of “The Armadillo” and her much beloved villanelle, “One Art.”

The most comprehensive online collection of Broutiganiana is at John Barber’s Brautigan Bibliography, where you’ll find everything from his life story to genealogical charts, his poetry, novels, stories & non-fiction, notes on the works inspired by Brautigan, eulogies & tributes to him.

The Brautigan Pages is a community-based site meant to bring Brautigan fans together. Don’t miss the interactive Flash version of Please Plant This Book, Brautigan’s seed packet poems. And the photos of Brautigan 1963 - 1978 by Erik Weber are classics every one.

Nils T. Devine claims to have posted “the largest collection of Richard Brautigan poetry on the Web” -- at least until Brautigan’s estate asks that the texts be taken down.

The Modern American Poetry page devoted to the late William Bronk, poet of transcendance & epistemology, offers a biography, excerpted interviews & commentary, and a tantalizing few poems. Bronk asks in many ways: Who is in charge of meaning, poet or words? Is a poem still a poem if no one reads it?

A meditation on American Nobel laureate in poetry Joseph Brodsky and his vision of spreading poetry across the country, which inspired a young man named Andy Carroll to create the American Poetry & Literacy Project.

Our dearest National Treasure, Gwendolyn Brooks passed on in the year 2000 & is fondly remembered & sorely missed. Voices from the Gaps has a brief bio and links; her page at AAP includes an audio file of her reading “We Real Cool.”

Merry soul, filmmaker & poet James Broughton passed on in 1999, leaving us his poems to “awaken or delight or transform,” a little of his Big Joy.

At LordBuckley.com, you’ll find a celebratory archive of everything to do with this seminal spoken word artist, storyteller of the Hip Semantic, curated by the inimitable, indefatigable Michael Monteleone.

Buk’s Page includes some of his charming line drawings along with a bio from Black Sparrow, letters from Bukowski fans, excerpts from Sure, the Bukowski newsletter, and links to order books online. And City Lights Booksellers & Publishers has a pretty complete listing of all the Bukowski books for your browsing pleasure.

A remembrance of the death of poet Hart Crane, who was only 33 when he committed suicide by jumping off a ship in 1932.

Four of Crane’s poems are linked to his biography at AAP & four more are collected at Poets’ Corner.

Michael Smith’s Samuel Greenberg site traces Greenberg’s influence on Crane in specific parallel lines in Crane’s poem “Emblems of Conduct” -- fascinating!

Robert Creeley (1926 - 2005) was a leading light in several of the avant-gardes of the latter half of the 20th century, from Black Mountain to Beat & beyond. He was a poet of short lines, hard nouns & pure emotion, an influential teacher, editor & publisher.