by Alice Quinn More haiku by Yosa Buson (1716-1783): Swallows are wakened at night in a hut someone is beating at a snake * Old doll reminds me how my love used to hide her face in her sleeve * Pear trees in flower a woman reads a letter by moonlight (From Collected Haiku of … Continue reading A Poem For Friday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: I first began reading W.S.Merwin’s poetry in 1970. I remember sitting at a counter at a Zum Zum’s coffee shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts and wildly underlining poems from his book, The Moving Target. Twenty years later, he inscribed my tattered copy in my office at The New Yorker, where … Continue reading A Poem For Saturday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: The jacket copy for J.D.McClatchy’s Plundered Hearts: New and Selected Poems, just published by Alfred A. Knopf, is worth quoting to introduce the three poems of his we’ll be featuring today and in the days ahead: “With his first several books, J.D.McClatchy established himself as a poet of urbanity, … Continue reading A Poem For Saturday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: In the June 14th, 2003 issue of The New Yorker, a moving and beautiful poem entitled “The Clerk’s Tale” by Spencer Reece appeared on the back page, drawn from his debut volume of the same title chosen for The Bakeless Prize that year by Louise Gluck. The poem began, … Continue reading A Poem For Saturday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: The exiled Romanian poet Nina Cassian died peacefully at her home on Roosevelt Island in New York City on Monday, April 14th, at the age of 89, having watched as usual Jeopardy, her favorite television show. That seems perfectly fitting for this witty, stalwart, and profound woman whom Stanley … Continue reading A Poem For Saturday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: A new biography of the English poet George Herbert (1593-1633) by John Drury, Music at Midnight, has occasioned a lovely essay by Nicholas Lezard in The Guardian this week. To introduce the poems we’ve chosen for this Easter weekend, we’ll quote the opening of Lezard’s piece: The devil, whatever people … Continue reading A Poem For Good Friday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: r. erica doyle is the winner of this year’s Norma Farber Award from the Poetry Society of America for a first book of original poetry written by an American and published in a standard edition in 2012. Doyle’s book entitled proxy is powerful and has inspired powerful praise, including … Continue reading A Poem For Wednesday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: Ron Padgett’s Collected Poems is the recipient of this year’s Poetry Society of America William Carlos Williams Award for a book of poetry published by a small press, non-profit, or university press in a standard edition in 2012. The citation by poet Tom Lux reads in part: “I can … Continue reading A Poem For Sunday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: Bernadette Mayer has won the Poetry Society of America’s 2014 Shelley Memorial Award, established by the will of the late Mary P. Sears in 1929 and awarded by nomination only to a living American poet selected with reference to his or her genius and need. The lineage of this … Continue reading A Poem For Saturday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: Tonight, Wednesday, April 9th at 7pm, at the National Arts Club in New York City at 15 Gramercy Park, the Poetry Society of America’s annual awards ceremony will take place, offering emerging and established poets recognition at all stages of their careers. The event is free and open to … Continue reading A Poem For Wednesday
