Jim Harrison is one of the leading writers in America Along with Ted Kooser, W.S. Merwin, and Pablo Neruda, one of Copper Canyon’s best-selling poets Every Harrison book Copper Canyon publishes is well reviewed and earns book awards and accolades, including multiple “Book of the Year” listings Another sublime Russell Chatham painting on the cover the anchor poem, “Suite to Unreason,” is one of Harrison’s major poems
writes a column in American Poetry Review according to Boruch, this was the strangest book she’s ever written, that it “came to me in a trance, almost perfectly formed, and I don’t remember writing it.” widely respected for weird intelligence mystical book about living and dying, with lots of air creatures and water creatures Boruch’s work appears with regularity in The New Yorker
"A lyricist at heart, McGriff is a masterful maker of metaphor."—Third Coast "There is majestic beauty in these descriptions, and it is clear that McGriff honors this place as a place—not as mere setting, but as a distinct element of his verse."—Gently Read Literature Michael McGriff's second full-length collection explores interior landscapes and illustrates life in a rural community in the Pacific Northwest. Whether tender or hard-hitting, McGriff juxtaposes natural images of deep forests, creeks, coyotes, and crows against the harsher oil-grease realities of blue-collar life, creating poems that read like folk tales about the people working in grain mills, forests, and factories. "New Civilian" The new law says you can abandon your childin an emergency room,no questions asked. The young fathercarries the sleeping boythrough the hospital doors.Later, alone, parked at the boat basin,he takes a knife from his pocket,cuts an unfiltered cigarette in two,lights the longer half in his mouth.He was a medic in the war.In his basement are five bronze eaglesthat once adorned the wallsof a dictator's palace. Michael McGriff attended the University of Oregon; the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Michener Fellow in creative writing; and Stanford University, where he was a Stegner Fellow. He is the co-founding editor and publisher of Tavern Books and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"Wagoner's words are a living link to the world, enacting it so vitally that they feel like natural facts."—The Seattle Times In his twenty-fourth book of poetry, David Wagoner reflects on youth, love, regret, and expectation versus reality. Here a master writes at top form, back-dropped by life's curious moments and imagining Jesus as an untidy roommate or considering our final destination in «Beginner's Guide to Death.» "After the Point of No Return" After that moment when you've lost all reasonfor going back where you started, when going aheadis no longer a Yes or No, but a matter of fact,you'll need to weigh, on the one hand, what will seem,on the other, almost nothing against somethingslightly more than nothing and must chooseagain and again, at points of fewer and fewerchances to guess, when and which way to turn. That's when you might stop thinking about starsand storm clouds, the direction of wind,the difference between rain and snow, the time of day or the lay of the land, about which treesmean water, which birds know what you needto know before it's too late, or what's right hereunder your feet, no longer able to tell youwhere it was you thought you had to go. David Wagoner is the author of two dozen books of poetry and ten novels. A longtime teacher at University of Washington, he was the editor at Poetry Northwest. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
"Hilarity transfiguring all that dread, manic overflow of powerful feeling, zero at the bone—Flies renders its desolation with singular invention and focus and figuration: the making of these poems makes them exhilarating."—James Laughlin Award citation "Reading Michael [Dickman] is like stepping out of an overheated apartment building to be met, unexpectedly, by an exhilaratingly chill gust of wind."—The New Yorker "These are lithe, seemingly effortless poems, poems whose strange affective power remains even after several readings."—The Believer Winner of the James Laughlin Award for the best second book by an American poet, Flies presents an uncompromising vision of joy and devastating loss through a strict economy of language and an exuberant surrealism. Michael Dickman's poems bring us back to the wonder and violence of childhood, and the desire to connect with a power greater than ourselves. What you want to rememberof the earthand what you end uprememberingare often twodifferent things Michael Dickman was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. His first book of poems, The End of the West, appeared in 2009 and became the best-selling debut in the history of Copper Canyon Press. His poems appear frequently in The New Yorker, and he teaches poetry at Princeton University.
Garrison Keillor loves Budbill’s work and reads his poems regularly on “The Writer’s Almanac” Claims to be a reincarnated Chinese poet We receive more mail about David Budbill than just about any other poet was a former NPR commentator on “All Things Considered” has cultivated a large, engaged readership through his website and social media (which is very impressive for a hermit)
"Kasischke's intelligence is most apparent in her syntactic control and pace, the way she gauges just when to make free verse speed up, or stop short, or slow down."—The New York Times Book Review "Kasischke's poems are powered by a skillful use of imagery and the subtle, ingenious way she turns a phrase."—Austin American-Statesman Laura Kasischke's poems have the same haunting qualities and truth as our most potent memories and dreams. Through ghostly voices, fragmented narratives, overheard conversations, songs, and prayers in language reminiscent of medieval lyrics converted into contemporary idiom, the poems in Space, In Chains create a visceral strangeness true to its own music. So we found ourselves in an ancient place, the veryair around us bound by chains. There wasstagnant water in which lightningwas reflected, like desperationin a dying eye. Like science. Likea dull rock plummeting through space, tossingoff flowers and veils, like a bride. And also the subway.Speed under ground.And the way each body in the room appeared to bea jar of wasps and flies that day—but, enchanted,like frightened children's laughter. Laura Kasischke is the author of thirteen books of poetry and fiction. Her novel Her Life Before Her Eyes was adapted for the screen and starred Uma Thurman. A Guggenheim Fellow in 2009, she teaches in the MFA program at the University of Michigan.
"An exquisite storyteller."—The Southern Review "David Bottoms's poems just get better and better."—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "One finds here what one expects in a book of good Southern poems: clear narratives . . . evocative images, searching irony, and meditative poise." —Library Journal Rooted in the customs of Southern families and peopled with undertakers, bluegrass musicians, daughters practicing karate, and elderly parents, David Bottoms' poems are generous, insightful, and lean headlong into familial wisdom. Past and present interweave with grandmothers spitting tobacco juice, ponds «filled with construction runoff,» and the boyhood home-site paved over for a KFC. This is Bottoms' most personal and heartbreaking book. From «My Daughter Works the Heavy Bag»: A bow to the instructor,then fighting stance, and the only girl in karate class faces the heavy bag.Small for fifth grade—willow-like, says her mother—sweaty hair tangled like blown willow branches.The boys try to ignore her. They fidget against the wall, smirk,practice their routine of huff and feint.Circle, barks the instructor,jab, circle, kick, and the black bag wobbles on its chain.Again and again, the bony jewels of her fistjab out in glistening precision,her flawless legs remember arabesque and glissade.Kick, jab, kick, and the bag coughs rhythmically from its gut.The boys fidget and wait . . . David Bottom, Georgia's Poet Laureate, was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2009. He teaches at Georgia State University and co-edits Five Points magazine. He lives in Marietta, Georgia.
"A collection of poems that give rich drama to ordinary experience, deepening our sense of what it means to be human."—Pulitzer Prize finalist citation"There is a broad, powerful streak of independence—even disobedience—that runs through Stone's writing and has inspired a great number of women after her."—Guardian Finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize, this retrospective of Ruth Stone's poetry combines the best work from twelve previous volumes with an abundance of new poems. This comprehensive selection includes early formal lyrics, fierce political poems, and meditations on her husband's suicide and her own blindness. As Sharon Olds says in her foreword, «A Ruth Stone poem feels alive in the hands—ardent, independent, restless.» What Love Comes To is a necessary collection from an American original.Can it be thatmemory is useless,like a torn webhanging in the wind?Sometimes it billowsout, a full high gauze—like a canopy.But the air passesthrough the rentsand it falls again and flapsshapelesslike the ghost rag that it is—hanging at the windowof an empty room.Ruth Stone is the author of twelve books of poetry. Among her many awards are the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Eric Mathieu King Award, a Whiting Award, and she was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. She taught creative writing at many universities, finally settling at SUNY Binghamton. She lives in Vermont.
"Charming, melancholy, hip."—Publishers Weekly, starred review"Zapruder's innovative style is provocative in its unusual juxtapositions of line, image and enjambments. . . . Highly recommended."—Library JournalMatthew Zapruder's third book mixes humor and invention with love and loss, as when the breath of a lover is compared to «a field of titanium gravestones / growing warmer in the sun.» The title poem is an elegy for the heroes and mentors in the poet's life—from David Foster Wallace to the poet's father. Zapruder's poems are direct and surprising, and throughout the book he wrestles with the desire to do well, to make art, and to face the vast events of the day.Look out scientists! Today the unemployment rateis 9.4 percent. I have no idea what that means. I triedto think about it harder for a while. Thentried standing in an actual stance of mysteryand not knowing towards the world.Which is my job. As is staring at the back yardand for one second believing I am actuallyrising away from myself. Which is maybewhat I have in common right now with you . . . Matthew Zapruder holds degrees from Amherst College, UC Berkeley, and the University of Massachusetts. He is the author of two previous books, including The Pajamaist, which won the William Carlos Williams Award and was honored by Library Journal with a «Best Poetry Book of the Year» listing. He lives in San Francisco and is an editor at Wave Books.