Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Best Poetry Books of 2011 - Evie Shockley

Evie Shockley's selections:

Best, schmest. : ) Here are 10 (actually, 11 -- but I'm hoping Reb will let me get away with it) terrific books from 2011 that I would want someone to tell me about, if I didn't already know about them. Not included: other terrific books that: (1) I think you've surely (surely!) heard about already, (2) I didn't get to read even part of yet, and so feel sadly unable to recommend personally at this point, (3) I don't know about myself, but will be searching for on the other lists Reb's publishing this month, or (4) I finally just couldn't fit into a list of 10 (well, 11) without turning it into a list of 20. Okay, here goes, in alpha order:

Called by Kate Greenstreet (Delete Press)

Kingdom Animalia by Aracelis Girmay (BOA Editions)

Vocabulary of Silence by Veronica Golos (Red Hen)

Things Come On {an amneoir} by Joseph Harrington (Wesleyan)

Neighborhood Register by Marcus Jackson (Cavan Kerry)

A Beautiful Name for a Girl by Kirsten Kaschock (Ahsahta)

Nod House by Nathaniel Mackey (New Directions) --

Slot by Jill Magi (Ugly Duckling)

Discipline by Dawn Lundy Martin (Nightboat Books)

Black Peculiar by Khadijah Queen (Noemi Press)

Howell by Tyrone Williams (Atelos)

Have a Happy Poetry Reading Interlude, and a Joyous New Year!

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Evie Shockley is the author of two books of poetry -- the new black (Wesleyan, 2011) and a half-red sea (Carolina Wren Press, 2006) -- and a book of criticism, Renegade Poetics: Black Aesthetics and Formal Innovation in African American Poetry. She teaches African American literature and creative writing at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

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