We asked Poetry Foundation & Poetry Magazine President Robert Polito about his favorite poems. Heres what he had to say: If you read widely, there are inevitably many favorite poems, and I am sure we will hear at least some of mine during Poetry Out Loud. Ones favorites also tend to drift in and out of private fashion, due to mood or age, among other elusive factors. But for this requested list of current favorites, let me mention a few we are unlikely to hear--simply because they all are too long for convenient recitation. The American long poem is a powerful genre all its own, I sometimes think, though of course there are long poems I love by English (Don Juan, The Prelude, Paradise Lost, Briggflatts), French (Une Saison en Enfer), Italian (Comedia), or Spanish (Poeta en Nueva York) poets, to wander here only through Europe. Long poems allow for diversities, juxtapositions, and accretions of tones that might only be matched by the boldest and most ambitious novels -- and these are seven twentieth-century stunners: Flow Chart by John Ashbery; The Bridge by Hart Crane; Kaddish by Allen Ginsberg; My Life by Lyn Hejinian; The Changing Light at Sandover by James Merrill; Stanzas in Meditation by Gertrude Stein; and Harlem Gallery by Melvin Tolson. Weve heard from Robert, now wed love to hear about some of your favorite poems...
Posted on: Thu, 24 Apr 2014 20:02:27 +0000