Poetry
by Poetic Justice, April 7, 2015 12:04 PM
Every year to celebrate Poetry Month, we select 32 poets to battle it out in a competition for the ages: Poetry Madness. This year, we decided to do things a little differently: instead of choosing the players ourselves, we asked four awesome poets — Saeed Jones, Andrea Gibson, Robert Lashley, and Hajara Quinn — to each nominate eight of their favorite contemporaries to compete for the title of Best Poet of All Time (for the year). Who will emerge victorious? Read about the contenders here and then go to our Poetry Madness page on April 8 to vote for your top choices.
Below are Hajara Quinn's picks for Poetry Madness 2015.
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Hajara Quinn lives in Portland, Oregon. She is an assistant editor for Octopus Books and the author of the chapbook Unnaysayer (Flying Object, 2013). Her poems have appeared in Gulf Coast, Banango Street, The Volta, Nightblock, and Sixth Finch. She is the recipient of a 2015 Oregon Literary Fellowship. |
Mary Ruefle
Author of Trances of the Blast
"Mary Ruefle is perhaps the poet most likely to disarm me on any given day. The way the imagination in her poetry does its transformative work on description, the way it changes everything, the way she resists easy epiphany, the way she courts impossible epiphanies."
"Provenance" by Mary Ruefle
from Trances of the Blast (Wave Books, 2013)
In the fifth grade
I made a horse of papier-mâché
and...
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Poetry
by Poetic Justice, April 6, 2015 10:08 AM
Every year to celebrate Poetry Month, we select 32 poets to battle it out in a competition for the ages: Poetry Madness. This year, we decided to do things a little differently: instead of choosing the players ourselves, we asked four awesome poets — Saeed Jones, Andrea Gibson, Robert Lashley, and Hajara Quinn — to each nominate eight of their favorite contemporaries to compete for the title of Best Poet of All Time (for the year). Who will emerge victorious? Read about the contenders here and then go to our Poetry Madness page on April 8 to vote for your top choices.
![](https://www.powells.com/images/blog/saeedjones120bw.jpg) ![](https://www.powells.com/images/blog/prelude-to-bruise.jpg) |
Saeed Jones's debut poetry collection Prelude to Bruise (Coffee House Press) was the winner of the 2015 Stonewall Book Award/Barbara Gittings Literature Award and a finalist for the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award. His work has appeared in publications like Guernica, The Rumpus, Hayden's Ferry Review, and Blackbird among others. Saeed is the recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem and Queer / Art / Mentors. |
Below are Saeed Jones's picks for Poetry Madness 2015.
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Jericho Brown
Author of The New Testament
"Whether writing in the voice of Joni Mitchell or a lover rapt with the blues, Brown's poetry darkly glimmers like whiskey on the rocks."
Listen to him read "At the End of Hell."
Follow him on Twitter @jerichobrown.
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Patricia Smith
Author of Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah
"The roar of Hurricane Katrina, the hopeful sigh of a young mother in Chicago's South Side, Medusa fixing her hair: Patricia Smith has so many voices!"
Follow her on Twitter @pswordwoman...
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Poetry
by Poetic Justice, April 3, 2015 9:00 AM
Every year to celebrate Poetry Month, we select 32 poets to battle it out in a competition for the ages: Poetry Madness. This year, we decided to do things a little differently: instead of choosing the players ourselves, we asked four awesome poets — Saeed Jones, Andrea Gibson, Robert Lashley, and Hajara Quinn — to each nominate eight of their favorite contemporaries to compete for the title of Best Poet of All Time (for the year). Who will emerge victorious? Read about the contenders here and then go to our Poetry Madness page on April 8 to vote for your top choices.
![](https://www.powells.com/images/blog/robertlashley120bw.jpg) ![](https://www.powells.com/images/blog/9780984874477.jpg) |
Robert Lashley has had poems published in such journals as Feminete, No Regrets, Nailed, Drunk in a Midnight Choir, and Your Hands, Your Mouth. His work was also featured in Many Trails to the Summit, an anthology of Northwest form and lyric poetry. His full-length book, The Homeboy Songs, was published by Small Doggies Press in April 2014. |
Here are Robert Lashley's picks for Poetry Madness 2015:
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Jay Wright
Author of Disorientations: Groundings
"He brought the oral tradition to Jacobean blank verse and stewed his fusions in African, Native American, and Spanish mythology. Complex, ambitious, and as unclassifiable as the country itself, Wright is my pick for American poetry's most unsung hero."
Find out more about him here.
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Gjertrud Schnackenberg
Author of Heavenly Questions
"Schnackenberg helped reclaim form poetry as a space for imagination, invention, and narrative depth. I know it sounds grandiose to say that future generations will discover her like previous generations rediscovered Christina Rossetti, but the sentence can't leave my head."
Read her poem "Supernatural Love."
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Poetry
by Poetic Justice, April 2, 2015 9:20 AM
Every year to celebrate Poetry Month, we select 32 poets to battle it out in a competition for the ages: Poetry Madness. This year, we decided to do things a little differently: instead of choosing the players ourselves, we asked four awesome poets — Saeed Jones, Andrea Gibson, Robert Lashley, and Hajara Quinn — to each nominate eight of their favorite contemporaries to compete for the title of Best Poet of All Time (for the year). Who will emerge victorious? Read about the contenders here and then go to our Poetry Madness page on April 8 to vote for your top choices.
![](https://www.powells.com/images/blog/andreagibson120bw.jpg) ![](https://www.powells.com/images/blog/9780981521305.jpg) |
Andrea Gibson is a queer/genderqueer poet and activist whose work deconstructs the current political machine, highlighting issues such as gender, sexuality, patriarchy, white supremacy, capitalism, classism, illness, love, and spirituality. Gibson is a cofounder of Stay Here With Me, an online website and community focused on suicide prevention. Gibson has published three books of poetry, released six full-length spoken-word albums, and is the editor of We Will Be Shelter, an anthology of social justice poetry published by Write Bloody Publishing. |
Here are Andrea Gibson's picks for Poetry Madness 2015:
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Hieu Nguyen
Author of This Way to the Sugar
"A brilliant, queer, heart-punched unghosting, This Way to the Sugar is a breath-giving collection of desire, grief, trauma, tradition and wise wise wonder from one of the most honest poets I have ever witnessed on a stage."
See his work here.
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Claudia Rankine
Author of Citizen: An American Lyric
"Stunning, shattering, and crucial, Citizen unpacks race relations in America, fueling a facing inward and outward, questioning constructed definitions of freedom, and interrogating the assumption that what is lived through is always survived."
Learn more about Claudia Rankine here...
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Poetry
by Poetic Justice, April 24, 2013 3:54 PM
![](https://www.powells.com/images/blog/poetry-madness-verso.jpg) No one would say that Round Three of Poetry Madness was easy. Yeats showed the invisible scars of battle when he surveyed the damage done in his quest for Round Four and cried out: "I sing what was lost and dread what was won."Showing none of Yeats's turmoil, the indefatigable Emily Dickinson pushed a damp lock of hair behind her ear and — without even glancing at Sylvia Plath, who lay weeping in the corner — strode briskly into her spot in the Elite Eight, calling out to her trembling new opponent: How many bullets bearest?The royal scar hast thou? Angels, write 'Promoted' On this soldier's brow! In the Living, Mary Oliver proved that she would fight A Thousand Mornings if it meant making it to the Championship round, thrashing Anne Carson in the process. Rita Dove bested Li-Young Lee, ensuring that, at least tonight, Lee would be Eating Alone. On our home turf, Roethke informed fellow Pacific Northwest poet Mary Szybist that "death of the self in a long, tearless night" would be the only thing stopping him from facing off against Tess Gallagher in the next bout. Baudelaire voiced his desire to "always be drunk" once the bracket ended, but not before securing his place ahead of Anna Akhmatova. And Rilke... poor Rilke. After losing out to Neruda, he turned to the jeering crowds that filled the aisles of Powells.com and whispered to himself "Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us." Who will be left standing in the Final Four? Only your votes can save these poets (and us) from descending any deeper into Poetry Madness. Round Three Results:
Living Mary Oliver – 59.0% Anne Carson – 41.0% Rita Dove – 54.9% Li-Young Lee – 45.1% Deceased Emily Dickinson – 62.5% Sylvia Plath – 37.5% Elizabeth Bishop – 43.2% W. B. Yeats – 56.8% In Translation Anna Akhmatova – 42.3% Charles Baudelaire – 57.7% Rainer Maria Rilke – 45.5% Pablo Neruda – 54.5% Pacific Northwest Matthew Dickman – 37.3% Tess Gallagher – 62.7% Theodore Roethke – 78.2% Mary Szybist –
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Poetry
by Poetic Justice, April 17, 2013 3:01 PM
![](https://www.powells.com/images/blog/poetry-madness-verso.jpg) For a few tense days, the aisles of Powells.com were silent. No one spoke; no one whispered; no one dared interrupt the fearsome competition that was unfolding in Round Two of Poetry Madness. Sure, it was easy to be distracted by the swagger of Neruda and Rilke. With their intentions clearly aimed at a Round Three matchup, the duo left their Round Two contenders in the dust. In almost all of the other matchups, while each of the poets showed flashes of brilliance, none ever hit their stride. But toward the end of Round Three, it became clear that this round would be dominated by the ladies. Anne Carson, Sylvia Plath, Rita Dove, Mary Oliver, Mary Szybist, Tess Gallagher, Anna Akhmatova, and Emily Dickinson all advanced in a series of tough wins. Breathless, her white gown slightly translucent with sweat, Dickinson wrestled Walt Whitman to the ground and into a Damascus head-leglock. When the final bell rang, she raised her fists in the air and screamed: I'm "wife" — I've finished that —That other state — I'm Czar — I'm "Woman" now — In the end, it was Auden who disappeared in the dead of winter and Yeats who would be moving on to Round Three, where he'll attempt to tread not-so-softly on Elizabeth Bishop's dreams of winning. What's next in Round Three? Tess Gallagher might be hopeful for a showdown At the Owl Woman Saloon, but Baudelaire's secret weapon, The Flowers of Evil, may prove too difficult to overcome. Will Rilke invoke The Swan, The Panther, or The Gazelle in his next bout? Or will Neruda prove he's not just a lover but a fighter? Will Mary Oliver's hard work make the Dream Work? It's hard to say, but Anna Akhmatova left the crowd with a prediction: You Will Hear Thunder. Round Two Results:
Living Mary Oliver – 53.6% Louise Glück – 46.4% Anne Carson – 62.9% Natasha Trethewey – 37.1% Rita Dove – 64.0% Tony Hoagland – 36.0% John Ashbery – 46.3% Li-Young Lee – 53.7% Deceased Emily Dickinson – 51.8% Walt Whitman – 48.2% Sylvia Plath – 56.8% Allen Ginsberg – 43.2% Elizabeth Bishop – 54.9% Adrienne Rich – 45.1% W. B. Yeats – 63.7% W. H. Auden – 36.3% Poets in Translation Anna Akhmatova – 54.5% Wislawa Szymborska – 45.5% Czeslaw Milosz – 48.4% Charles Baudelaire – 51.6% Rainer Maria Rilke – 88.8% Constantine P. Cavafy – 11.2% Hafez – 15.1% Pablo Neruda – 84.9% Pacific Northwest Matthew Dickman – 55.6% Crystal Williams – 44.4% Tess Gallagher – 64.0% Carolyn Kizer – 36.0% Gary Snyder – 36.6% Theodore Roethke – 63.4% Floyd Skloot – 45.2% Mary Szybist –
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Poetry
by Poetic Justice, April 12, 2013 1:18 PM
![](https://www.powells.com/images/blog/poetry-madness-verso.jpg) Right out of the gate, Mary Oliver began laying waste to Billy Collins, with 75% of the vote, building what would become an insurmountable lead. Among the living, Oliver made it clear that she knew exactly what she wanted to do with her one precious life — crush the competition. And yet, it was Anne Carson, in her quiet, Canadian way that claimed the strongest lead of the group. Poor Jorie Graham could only be satisfied in defeat by The Dream of the Unified Field. After that first grueling day, we knew that this was no ordinary bracket. The votes came pouring in over the weekend. Across the field, poets were engaged in epic battles, with tight races in all four categories. But in the "In Translation" corner of the bracket, it was time for fans of Nicanor Parra to GET REAL, ahem, GET RILKE! In this contest, there was only one common language: bloodlust. Proving she didn't have anything to lose in translation, Anna Akhmatova trounced Paul Celan From Threshold to Threshold. We'd expected Theodore Roethke and Richard Hugo to be clawing their way to the finish, but the matchup was rather one-sided. In a prophetic statement from a 1976 interview with the Paris Review, James Dickey placed his bets on Roethke across the board, saying, "I don't see anyone else that has the kind of deep, gut vitality that Roethke's got. Whitman was a great poet, but he's no competition for Roethke." Despite a valiant effort, in the end Oregon poet laureate Paulann Petersen couldn't find A Bridge of Narrow Escape, and Matthew Dickman triumphed like a true All-American poet. Emily Dickinson shyly, slyly crept up on T. S. Eliot, proving that sometimes the best way to win is a ribbon at a time. Robinson Jeffers did his damnedest to "Tor" up Allen Ginsberg, but it was good ol' Irwin who put the Beat down on Jeffers. And in a sweeping move that electrified the crowd, Sylvia Plath put a hurt on Anne Sexton that took her To Bedlam and Part Way Back. We knew it would be a rowdy week, but who knew Neruda would slice into Rimbaud like a fleshy apple? Who could have guessed that Elizabeth Bishop would find the art of winning easy to master when she edged out Wallace Stevens by two itty bitty votes? And who knew that the competitive spirit in the Pacific Northwest was so fierce? (Answer: We did!) The delirium continues with Round Two of Poetry Madness. Get in on the action now — voting ends April 16. Round One Results: Living
Mary Oliver – 61.6% Billy Collins – 38.4% Louise Glück – 53.3% W. S. Merwin – 46.7% Anne Carson – 72.0% Jorie Graham – 28.0% Natasha Trethewey – 60.5% Richard Blanco – 39.5% Rita Dove – 58.3% James Tate – 41.7% Mary Jo Bang – 46.2% Tony Hoagland – 53.8% Derek Walcott – 48.0% John Ashbery – 52.0% Kevin Young – 36.1% Li-Young Lee – 63.9% Deceased T. S. Eliot – 44.4% Emily Dickinson – 55.6% e. e. cummings – 41.8% Walt Whitman – 58.2% Sylvia Plath – 57.9% Anne Sexton – 42.1% Robinson Jeffers – 31.4% Allen Ginsberg – 68.6% Wallace Stevens – 50.0% Elizabeth Bishop – 50.0% Lucille Clifton – 30.5% Adrienne Rich – 69.5% John Keats – 41.1% W. B. Yeats – 58.9% W. H. Auden – 84.2% James Dickey – 15.5% In Translation Anna Akhmatova – 61.3% Paul Celan – 38.7% Adonis – 24.6% Wislawa Szymborska – 75.4% Fernando Pessoa – 26.0% Czeslaw Milosz – 74.0% Joseph Brodsky – 36.3% Charles Baudelaire – 63.7% Rainer Maria Rilke – 91.3% Nicanor Parra – 8.7% Constantine P. Cavafy – 58.8% Wole Soyinka – 41.2% Hafez – 53.4% Rabindranath Tagore – 46.6% Arthur Rimbaud – 25.4% Pablo Neruda – 74.6% Pacific Northwest Matthew Dickman – 51.4% Paulann Petersen – 48.6% Michael Dickman – 47.4% Crystal Williams – 52.6% Dorianne Laux – 38.6% Tess Gallagher – 61.4% Sam Hamill – 32.0% Carolyn Kizer – 68.0% William Stafford – 49.5% Gary Snyder – 50.5% Richard Hugo – 24.0% Theodore Roethke – 76.0% Floyd Skloot – 59.8% Primus St. John – 40.2% Mary Szybist – 67.6% Carl Adamshick –
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