Tom
Mayo:
The best
of the
verse
BOOKS:
Titles
to
satisfy
stanza
fans on
the gift
list
Stumped
for gift
ideas
for the
poetry-lover
in your
family
or
circle
of
friends?
Passing
by the
classics
that
every
library
should
have,
starting
with the
Norton
Anthology
of
Poetry
(fifth
edition,
Norton,
$71), I
offer my
recommendations
from
among
the
releases
of the
last
year or
so:
Anthologies
Pound
for
pound
and
dollar
for
dollar,
a good
anthology
is the
best
bargain
in the
poetry
section
of your
favorite
bookstore.
Apart
from the
aforementioned
Norton
title,
consider
The
Oxford
Book of
American
Poetry
(edited
by David
Lehman,
$35),
the
first
such
volume
from the
Oxford
University
Press in
30
years.
In
addition
to
picking
up many
poets
who
weren't
working
in 1976,
this
volume
includes
lots
more of
them
(210)
than its
predecessors
(78 in
1976, 51
in the
1950
first
edition),
making
for a
far
broader
and more
diverse
collection
than
earlier
editions.
In the
international
category,
the
strongest
collection
this
year may
be
Michael
Hofman's
Twentieth-Century
German
Poetry
(Farrar,
Straus
and
Giroux;
$32). As
a
monoglot,
I can't
judge
the
quality
of the
translations
(many by
Mr.
Hofman
himself),
but even
in
English
the
poems
are
intense,
personal
and
political.
They
make a
strong
collective
argument
for
placing
German
poetry
alongside
the best
that
Poland,
Ireland
and
England
have to
offer.
Joseph
Parisi's
100
Essential
Modern
Poems
(Ivan R.
Dee;
$24.95)
is a
strong
collection
with
useful
introductory
essays
for each
poem.
Finally,
there is
Harold
Bloom's
American
Religious
Poems
(Library
of
America,
$40), a
tour de
force
that
begins
with The
Bay
Psalm
Book,
runs
through
an
astonishing
number
of poets
who
wouldn't
ordinarily
be
pigeon-holed
as
"religious
poets"
and ends
with
American
Indian
songs
and
chants,
spirituals
and
anonymous
hymns.
Writing
(and
reading)
poetry
A good
guide
book for
practicing
poets
can be
equally
valuable
for
readers
who want
to know
more
about
how a
poem
works.
Jack
Myers'
The
Portable
Poetry
Workshop
(Heinle,
$26.95)
is
practically
an
entire
MFA
program
in 350
pages.
In a
crowded
field,
this is
my
current
favorite.
Actor
and
novelist
Stephen
Fry has
learned
a thing
or two
from the
success
of
grammar
maven
Lynne
Truss'
Eats,
Shoots,
and
Leaves
and
the
result
is
The Ode
Less
Travelled:
Unlocking
the Poet
Within
(Penguin;
$20), a
vastly
entertaining
and
technically
useful
guide to
producing
poems.
A third
volume,
The
Poetry
Home
Repair
Manual
(Nebraska;
$19.95)
by past
Poet
Laureate
Ted
Kooser,
splits
the
difference
between
Mr.
Myers
and Mr.
Fry.
It's not
a good
choice
as a
stand-alone
guide,
but it
would
work
nicely
as a
supplement
to
either
of the
others.
Poets on
Poetry
Princeton's
Paul
Muldoon
takes
this
category
in a
walk
with his
The
End of
the
Poem:
Oxford
Lectures
(Farrar,
Straus
and
Giroux;
$24).
Here are
his 15
lectures
as
Oxford's
Professor
of
Poetry,
the
first 14
on
single
poems by
a
diverse
group of
writers,
the last
on three
Irish
poets
(Graves,
Day-Lewis,
and
Heaney)
who
preceded
him in
the
Oxford
Professorship.
Mr.
Muldoon
is a
wildly
allusive
and
slyly
subversive
punster
who
brings
all of
his
talents
to bear
here.
The
lectures
run the
risk of
being
less
about
what the
authors
were up
to and
more
about
what Mr.
Muldoon
himself
would
have
done had
he
written
the
poems in
question,
but he
takes us
on a
great
ride.
Tom Mayo
teaches
"Law,
Literature
&
Medicine"
at
Southern
Methodist
University
and at
the
University
of Texas
Southwestern
Medical
School
at
Dallas.
