THE BEST WORDS IN THEIR BEST ORDER

A Fine Rain Falls

In a perfect world, we would have been able to post audio of August Kleinzahler's 'Goddess' as the final post for this National Poetry Month, with its fabulous final line, "Unvisited I do not live, I endure."

But you know, in thinking about it, I have to say I've decided it would have been a bit melodramatic and probably something that the poets themselves would have eschewed. So instead we end, rather pleasantly, with Kleinzahler reading his poem 'Noir.' (Which I like to think of as a little love letter to certain nights in San Franciso.)

Thanks so much for reading this month, and I hope to see all of you here again next year!

You can download 'Noir' here, or stream it in the player below.

Wind Makes A Rush At The House

I never thought that a single word could break my heart, but here we are: Kleinzahler has done it in this deceptively simple poem. This poem, Portrait of My Mother in January, is also from his new collection, Sleeping It Off in Rapid City.

You can download the audio here, or listen to it in the player below.

Chaste In Its Geometry

I thought it would be perfect to close out the month with the voice of August Kleinzahler, who has a new collection out from FSG this month, Sleeping It Off in Rapid City. Maureen McLane wrote a fabulous three-piece consideration of the book earlier this month, that is an excellent introduction to the sounds of Kleinzahler's poetry, but honestly, there's nothing as good as listening to him read it aloud.

This first poem, Almost Nothing, has a epigraph: "In memoriam: Gordon Ashworth, architect." I'm afraid I couldn't find any info for you via my good friend Google, but perhaps someone has more information to post in the comments? Regardless, I feel confident ending the month with such strong verse (and we'll have two more from August later today). You can download the poem here, or listen in the player below.

Why Blame The Fire For Its Damage?

By now, you are all probably well familiar with Maureen McLane's 'After Sappho IV,' which has been printed out since early April and hanging on your office wall. (Right? You all printed it out, right?)

And now here is McLane reading two poems from that cycle, 'After Sappho IV' and 'After Sappho V,' which McLane describes as "emerging out of a year of reading translations of Sapphic fragments."

As a reminder, both of these poems will appear in McLane's debut collection of poetry, Same Life, which will be published by FSG in the fall.

"Language Is Infinitely Flexible And Powerful"

And here is part two of Helen Frost's post for us (you can find part one here). Her most recent collection of poetry is Diamond Willow, a book of poems shaped in patterns much like the distinctive wood grain.

"In writing The Braid I invented/discovered a book-length formal structure, an elaborate design based on Celtic knots, involving syllable counts and braided words at the beginning and ends of lines. Once I’d found the form and the characters’ voices, working so intensely within that form--9 months or so of 8-hour days, completely immersed in the work—led me to the exhilarating discovery that language is infinitely (or very nearly so) flexible and powerful.

I’ve come to see my books not so much as 'novels-in-poems' as, in each case, a whole and distinct 'novel-as-poem.' Now I enter into each novel very much as I enter into a single poem, but I have the scope (and the editorial support—thanks, Frances!) to delve deeply into the narratives and personas, and follow the images and music towards a central poetic pivot point. My most recently published book, Diamond Willow, is a book-length narrative based on a formal structure that can be found in the natural world. Combining my love of children, poetry, and Alaska with such a deep meditation on the diamond willow form was pure delight."

--Helen Frost

Helen Frost On "Freedom In Form"

And now for something new to the blog: a post written by one of our children's authors, poet Helen Frost (who is published by FSG's books for young readers).

Frost began her poetry career with a book of poems for adults, but her more recent collections are all for young readers: Keesha's House, The Braid, and her new book, Diamond Willow. She excels at writing novels in verse, and I thought it might be interesting to hear how she interacts with this form, one that recalls the days of epic poetry.

Here is the first part of her post. Keesha's House, which she refers to here, was a 2004 Printz Honor winner. 

"I’ve always found freedom in form—my first book, for adults, includes a sestina, a villanelle, a crown of sonnets—so it was natural for me to work in form when I started writing poetry for young readers. Keesha’s House began as a series of sestinas in the voices of teenagers, and developed into a novel in a very architectural way. The sestina form was perfectly appropriate for teen voices, the sonnet form better suited for adult voices; then as I 'built the rooms' of the novel, I saw how these two forms supported each other in intriguing ways."

--Helen Frost

Strange Rangers

Let me draw your attention to the fabulous and descriptive review of August Kleinzahler's new collection, Sleeping It Off in Rapid City:

Mr. Kleinzahler is an American eccentric, a hard man to pin down. Born in New Jersey, he writes poems that have a pushy exuberance and an expert recall of that state’s tougher schoolyards — of bullies with names like Stinky Phil and of “fire trucks and galoshes,/the taste of pencils and Louis Bocca’s ear.” And he writes with elegiac insight about life’s losers, the people he calls “strange rangers,” the addicted, insane or destitute.

We'll have two recorded poems from him to close out the month.

Light Older Than Wine

Derek Walcott wasn't able to get into the studio this year to record any new poems--although if you haven't heard the ones posted last year, stop what you're doing and go listen now--but last week The New Yorker picked up the slack for us and ran a new poem of Walcott's titled 'In Italy.'

You can read the whole poem online here.

More Whitman!

I'm not sure if this is intended to be a nod to National Poetry Month or not, but this weekend NPR is rerunning its hour-long tribute about "America's most radical poet," Walt Whitman. Be sure to listen especially for FSG writer Michel Cunningham, who included Whitman in his most recent novel Specimen Days.

And just in case you aren't spending your weekend around a computer, the whole show can be listened to online here.

Moon Has Never Understood Wine

Here we have more of David Hinton's thoughts on the process of translating classical Chinese poetry for his upcoming anthology from FSG, Classical Chinese Poetry.

In this recording Hinton reads poems from two of the poets included in his anthology: Li Po and Tu Mu. The two poets seem to have an intertwined life story, with Li Po--once nicknamed "the Poet-God"--falling from grace because of an assumed slight against the emperor and his eunuchs and befriending the aspiring poet Tu Mu.

Here are Hinton's thoughts on the two poets for download, or you can stream it live below.