The National Book Critics Circle chose these five books of poetry as the best published in 2004. The award winner will be announced on March 18, 2005 -- here are links for poetry lovers who want to read all five and choose their own favorite.
1. The Orchard, by Brigit Pegeen Kelly
(American Poets Continuum series, BOA Editions Ltd., April 2004) Brigit Pegeen Kelly’s two previous collections are Song (BOA Editions, 1995) & To The Place of Trumpets (Yale University Press, 1987), which was selected by James Merrill for the Yale Series of Younger Poets. She teaches English at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
2. Danger on Peaks, by Gary Snyder
(Shoemaker & Hoard, September 2004) Danger on Peaks was long awaited -- it arrived 7 years after Snyder’s book-length poem Mountains and Rivers Without End (Counterpoint Press, 1997) and 21 years after his last new collection of poems, Axe Handles (North Point Press, 1983). The new book has been greeted with raves, acknowledged as the work of a master and a legend.
3. The School Among the Ruins: Poems 2000 - 2004, by Adrienne Rich
(W.W. Norton & Co., August 2004) Adrienne Rich is an American treasure, a most engaged and eloquent poet, named “clarion poet of conscience” in the Booklist review, which describes this book in words like “arresting imagery and flinty syntax.... forthright, precise, witty, and keenly attuned to complacency, reluctance, and fear.... exhilaratingly choreographed poems....” Any new book by Rich is a soul necessity.4. Cocktails: Poems, by D.A. Powell
(Graywolf Press, March 2004) Cocktails is the last (and some say the best) book of Powell’s AIDS trilogy, labelled a contemporary Divine Comedy by its publisher. The two previous parts are Tea (Wesleyan University Press, 1998) & Lunch (Wesleyan University Press, 2000). Powell is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, teaches at the University of San Francisco, and edits Electronic Poetry Review.5. Interglacial: New and Selected Poems & Aphorisms, by James Richardson
(Ausable Press, November 2004) James Richardson has been Professor of English and Creative Writing at Princeton University for 25 years. His other recent poetry collections include Vectors: Aphorisms & Ten-Second Essays (Ausable Press, 2001), How Things Are (Carnegie-Mellon University Press, 2000) & As If (Persea Books, 1992).YOUR Poetry Picks for 2004
Bob Holman gave you his choices of the best poetry books he read in 2004 (whether or not they were published during the year) back in December. Now the National Book Critics Circle has selected their nominees for the best poetry books published in 2004. And we'd still like to hear about your favorites -- tell us please!
