Monday, December 12, 2011

Best Poetry Books of 2011 - Elizabeth Savage

Elizabeth Savage's selections:

Address by Elizabeth Willis (Wesleyan University Press)
A loving confrontation of the memes, music, and memory shaping the state of our nation. For every member of Congress.

Beauty is a Verb editors Jennifer Bartlett, Sheila Black, & Michael Northern (Cinco Puntos Press)
Essays and poetry encountering the frustrations and fertility of the compromised body. For everyone you know with a body.

No Eden by Sally Rosen Kindred (Mayapple Press)
A wrenching, gorgeous collection that corrects (again) the notion that narrative poetry=easy poetry. For those trying to convert childhood into a useable past.

Weaving a New Eden by Sherry Chandler (Wind Publications)
A smart, compassionate capture of disarticulated voices. For loved ones who read Susan Howe with dirt under their nails.

When the Water Came: Evacuees of Hurricane Katrina by Cynthia Hogue, Interview-poems & Rebecca Ross, Photographs (UNO Press)
A model of respectful intimacy that restores humans erased by the weight of event. For friends who have been extra-good or need to learn how to be.

Three Novels by Elizabeth Robinson (Omnidawn)
A book of grieving and reading. For the bereft for whom magical thinking doesn’t cut it.

The Woman without Experiences by Patricia Dienstfrey (Kelsey Street Press)
A book too long under-read. For anyone tired of narrow visions of self and sexuality.

The Human Abstract by Elizabeth Willis (Penguin USA/National Poetry Series)
After Address, you’ll want to read more Willis, and you most certainly should. For the very deserving, lovers of Blake, saints in the making.

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Elizabeth Savage is author of Jane & Paige or Sister Goose (2011, Furniture Press) and poetry editor for Kestrel: A Journal of Literature & Art. Her poetry appears (or will soon appear) in Appalachian Heritage, Court Green, No Tell Motel, Prime Number, the New Sound, and Wallace Stevens Journal. Find her essays about other people's poetry in Journal of Modern Literature, Tulsa Studies, and Contemporary Women's Writing.

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