This poetry collection has been a labor of love for its editor, Jeffrey Coleman. In an interview on the Tavis Smiley show in April, Coleman talked about searching for poems related to the Civil Rights movement for a paper he was assigned in graduate school. The project continued from there. The full contents are available on the Duke University Press webpage. This is a perfect title to highlight during Black History Month or Poetry Month, and a terrific addition to school library collections all year round. COLEMAN, Jeffrey Lamar, ed. Words of Protest, Words of Freedom: Poetry of the American Civil Rights. 358p. Duke Univ. 2012. Tr $89.95. ISBN 978-0-8223-5092-7; pap. $24.95. ISBN 978-0-8223-5103-0. LC number unavailable.   Adult/High Read more…

Poet Craig Arnold disappeared while hiking a volcano in Japan in 2009. The woman who loved him writes about their relationship and her sense of loss without explanation. There is no preface; the tragic event is explained in the blurb on the back cover.   The first poem, “What Rings but Can’t Be Answered,” is touching and could speak to anyone who has ever waited for a call from a loved one. “I want to be the crackers in your soup, I want to be your brass compass. Oh, mister, just thinking about you curls the ends of my hair.” Thirty-one pages are given to the alphabetical listing of remembrances and feelings as the couple’s story is told. “A ABANDON, what I did when you touched me that winter with an ungloved Read more…

Today’s guest blogger is Karlan Sick. Karlan and I served together on the Alex Awards committee for four years, and Karlan was always determined to find a book of poetry for the list. She introduced me to Poets House. At least once a summer, we would meet there and spend hours reading through potential collections, most hand-picked for us by the knowledgeable staff. Almost two years ago, Poets House moved from Soho to an incredible location in Battery Park City. Open to the public, and available for school visits, this is a beautiful, inspiring place for poetry.  From Karlan: With some 50,000 volumes of mostly contemporary American poetry on open stacks, Poets House is a wonderful place to visit here in NYC. The new site faces the Read more…

Please enjoy the last of our National Poetry Month reviews, a couple days late. BISHOP, Elizabeth. Poems. 352p. Farrar. 2011. pap. $16. ISBN 978-0-374-53236-9. LC 2010038535.   Adult/High School–Bishop (1911-1979) received many honors, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the National Book Award for Poetry in 1970 for her Complete Poems. This new edition of her collected poetry was released in celebration of the centennial of her birth. Being independently wealthy, Bisop was able to travel and live abroad. Many of her poems treat her travels, and she knew Portuguese, French, and Spanish well enough to translate the work of other major poets. Her poems will be appreciated by teens for their Read more…

Here we are , over halfway through National Poetry Month. I look forward to posting poetry reviews here regularly in the future, once or twice a month. We’ve enjoyed a good run of once a week during the month of April, with one week to go! Enjoy this playful, fun collection, quite accessible for younger readers. CRAIG, Michael Earl. Thin Kimono. 105p. Wave. Aug. 2010. Tr $14. ISBN 978-1-933517-46-9. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School–Craig’s third book of poetry contains many insightful and surprising selections. Rather than being introduced to Japan, readers encounter a trip to the acupuncturist, shoeing horses, and watching an owl at night. The poet makes all of the works interesting. Some are written in paragraphs but Read more…