Poem-a-Day - "fragments of northern sky in my head"

June 27, 2023

Poet, fiction writer, playwright, lyricist, and librettist Kenward Elmslie was born on April 27, 1929, in New York, New York.

As a lyricist, Elmslie wrote the book and lyrics for the Broadway musical adaptation of Truman Capote’s novel The Grass Harp, which was staged in 1971.

He was associated with the New York School of poets and released numerous volumes of poetry over subsequent decades, including Routine Disruptions: Selected Poems and Lyrics, 1960–1998 (Coffee House Press, 1998); Tropicalism (Z Press, 1975); and Motor Disturbance (The Frank O’Hara Foundation / Columbia University Press, 1971).

He died on June 29, 2022. Read work by Elmslie, newly added to our archive, including audio recordings of his readings:

“Motor Disturbance”
“The Dustbowl”
“Air”
“Sleeping Lucy”
“Bio”
“White Attic”
“Rare Meat (audio only)”
“Visual Radios”
“Take Me Away, Roy Rogers (audio only)”

“[...] we live in words, and with words. I feel like every encounter with language has the potential to be poetry. Poetry is not only on the page; it’s also the work that we do to challenge language.”

We are pleased to announce that the Academy of American Poets has selected Ricardo Alberto Maldonado to be its next Executive Director and President in a history-making appointment. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Maldonado is the first Latino to lead the Academy since its founding in 1934. He will begin his new role at the organization on July 17, 2023. Read Washington Post’s interview with Maldonado, and read poems by him on Poets.org:

“I Give You My Heart”
“In Defense of the Life Assignment”
“Vita Nuova”

more at poets.org

“I am a deeply chronic bibliophile, as my house will attest to. And I’m always reading, and I’m always reading a bunch of different books at once, because Poem Bitten by a Man, which will be out in the fall, is an ekphrastic book, kind of a meditation on chronic illness, and what folks are thinking about, queer abstraction and also, kind of, queer art history. I’ve been focused on writing by and about visual artists, as well as on ekphrastic projects in both poetry and prose.”

Brian Teare, this month’s Poem-a-Day Guest Editor, is the author of six books, including Doomstead Days (Nightboat Books, 2019), winner of the Four Quartets Prize and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle, Kingsley Tufts, and Lambda Literary Awards. Read and listen to a Q&A with Teare about his Poem-a-Day curatorial approach.

more at poets.org

#PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week

Join Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow Marcus Amaker and Asiah Mae, Charleston’s current poet laureate, to celebrate the launch of Marcus’s tenth book Hold What Makes You Whole (Free Verse Press, 2023). Enjoy a poetry reading and meet and greet with live music and craft cocktails on June 30, at 7 p.m. EDT, at Clerks Coffee Co. (181 Church St., Charleston, SC). Learn more here. (Sponsored)

more at poets.org

South Carolina State University is seeking a full-time assistant professor.
The Clifton House is seeking a program manager.
826 Boston is seeking a full-time donor relations coordinator.

Revisit last week’s Poem-a-Day selections with us on Poets.org:

June 18: “[It was deep April, and the morn]” by Michael Field
June 19: from “All About You” by Chris Nealon
June 20: “Sonnet for Ochún” by Leslie Sainz
June 21: from “. . . Again” by Mark Nowak
June 22: “Vote Your Way to Hell” by Chia-Lun Chang
June 23: “Letter on Alladat” by D. S. Marriott
June 24: from “A Season in Hell [Delirium I]” by Arthur Rimbaud

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Poem-a-Day - "fragments of northern sky in my head"

Older messages

"Subjunctive" by Zaina Alsous

"[Backlit by the glitter-chopped horizon,]" by Killarney Clary

"The Star Dial" by Willa Cather

from "A Season in Hell [Delirium I]" by Arthur Rimbaud

"Letter on Alladat" by D. S. Marriott

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