Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Oprah's List of Best Books of 2011

Oprah.com has published a list of the best poetry books of 2011--all five of them, answering the question "Who are today's best and brightest new poets?"

Space in Chains
By Laura Kasischke
Copper Canyon Press


Devotions
By Bruce Smith
Phoenix Poets


Core Samples from the World
By Forrest Gander
New Directions

The Chameleon Couch
By Yusef Komunyakaa
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Kingdom Animalia
By Aracelis Girmay
BOA Editions, Ltd.


Now, while I don't want to knock any of these poets, to claim that any of them are "new" poets is a little misleading. No bother...the purpose of this post is not to knock Oprah.com's misappellations, but to propose a discussion experiment. Would anyone be up for reading and reviewing, book group style, these five books publicly? Not only would this help churn up some discussion, but also might prove to be educational as well. I've ordered Space in Chains from the library; there are three in the Cuyahoga system, half a dozen in OhioLink and SearchOhio equally, so plenty for a group discussion. Who's up for reading a book of poetry a week and discussing it publicly?

2 comments:

VertigoXX said...

I could give you my picks for the six best poetry books of 2011, but I might have a reason to be biased in my selections. ;-P

Theresa Göttl Brightman said...

I'd be interested in being part of a poetry book club discussion group.

Cited...

The poet doesn't invent. He listens. ~Jean Cocteau