Poetry. Literary Nonfiction. Poetry History & Criticism. Introduction by Nick Flynn. From 2010 to 2012, Guggenheim Fellow and award-winning poet Lisa Russ Spaar was the poetry editor for the Chronicle of Higher Education's Arts & Academe and Brainstorm blogs, where every Monday she regaled an ever-growing audience with a brief commentary on a poem of her choosing. This book collects the best of these memorable micro-essays, demonstrating how a well-wrought poem speaks to our rich cultural and spiritual life. As the title essay reveals, Spaar's own father believed that "poetry was out to trick him" and in this collection, encompassing a range of crucial poets from the formal to the experimental, Spaar gently and lovingly debunks that notion, showing us the vital place that contemporary poetry can have in the life of the mind. This is an enthralling book for poets and non-poets alike.
"For people who are a bit wary of poetry, this is the perfect antidote: the poems are amazing, and so are Lisa Russ Spaar's short essays. There s a sense of clarity about everything here (not that things aren't complex; not that Lisa's analyses aren't fascinating constructs themselves, insightful and inspiring, though not intimidating.) I'd think anyone who cares about an inner reality that might be somehow communicated nailed; set free; amplified; questionedβwould embrace the chance to read poems that elucidate so much about the mind and the heart, and to understand better the urges embodied in the process of constructing a poem, which always speaks from its structure of restraint. I loved every minute of reading this book."βAnn Beattie
"Lisa Russ Spaar has an intense and generous spirit. She loves poetry and honors the people who read and write it. Reading her you remember once again that there's no such thing as a bad poem or a bad reader. Time will tell which ones are better and best. This book follows many roads, some less traveled than others and Lisa has a wonderful eye for the wildflowers elsewhere."βJerome McGann
Contributors are Kazim Ali, Debra Allbery,Talvikki Ansel, Jennifer Atkinson, David Baker, Jill Bialosky, Suzanne Buffam, Jennifer Chang, Ye Chun, Michael Collier, Randall Couch, Stephen Cushman, Kate Daniels, Kyle Dargan, Claudia Emerson, Monica Ferrell, David Francis, Gabriel Fried, Alice Fulton, Rachel Hadas, Brenda Hillman, Edward Hirsch, Jane Hirshfield, Mark Jarman, Laura Kasischke, Jennifer Key, L. S. Klatt, Joanna Klink, Hank Lazer, Paul Legault, Willie Lin, Maurice Manning, Cate Marvin, Heather McHugh, Erika Meitner, Carol Muske-Dukes, Amy Newman, Meghan O'Rourke, Eric Pankey, Kiki Petrosino, Carl Phillips, John Poch, Bin Ramke, Srikanth Reddy, Michael Rutherglen, Mary Ann Samyn, Philip Schultz, Sarah Schweig, Allison Seay, Ravi Shankar, Ron Slate, R. T. Smith, Larissa Szporluk, Mary Szybist, Brian Teare, William Thompson, David Wojahn, and Charles Wright