When Wallace Stevens died, few of his insurance colleagues even knew he was a poet; Ryan Ruby revisits a man who proved that to be a great poet, no great experience is necessary. Here are confessions of a poet laureate by Charles Simic. Tim Griffin reviews Versed by Rae Armantrout, 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner (and an interview). Louis Bury on conceptual poetry: While skipping the following books (and instead merely contemplating their conceits) may be in the conceptual spirit, careful reading of each offers many distinctive pleasures. Is Elizabeth Bishop a Canadian poet? In almost any conversation on the topic of poetry reviews, one question comes up: what’s the point? Dead Poets' Society: Relationships among poets are about much more than anxiety. A review of Poetry in Person: Twenty-five Years of Conversation with America's Poets. Was Robert Frost a Modernist? Robert Pinsky investigates. The new math of poetry: The amount of published poetry is growing rapidly, but masterpieces may be getting lost in the jungle of verse. Despite the fact that spring is springing, poetry and April have an ambivalent relationship. An interview with Sanford Budick, author of Kant and Milton. David Womersley on why Carol Ann Duffy is overrated and Eric Ormsby on why Geoffrey Hill is underrated. Joyce Carol Oates reviews The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson by Jerome Charyn. Brian Spears on the idea that the poet is always the best person to perform the work. A review of American Experimental Poetry and Democratic Thought by Alan Marshall. Can the toughest bacterium in the world learn how to write poetry? A review of Seamus Heaney and Medieval Poetry by Conor McCarthy. How to overcome poetry phobia: A rehabilitation plan for those averse to verse. Poetry keeping flame alive despite the dark.
