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Ashbery. The Tennis Court Oath.. 1962

I've been re-reading this, not only the long poem "Europe" but the others, too. Ashbery, like Duke Ellington is an entire world unto himself, and I often find half-forgotten small poems in the corners of his books. What if he'd written only this? He'd still be a majorly innovative poet.

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*Creeley. Mirrors. 1983. 88 pp.

This contains "Versions" (after Hardy), one of my favorite Creeley poems. In fact, this is one of my favorite phases of his work, despite the narratives of those who say Creeley entered a decline around this exact time.


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*Jean Valentine. Growing Darkness, Growing Light. 1997. 65 pp.

Valentine is good. She dedicates the last poem in the book to Fanny Howe, which might be an interesting angle to look at.

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*Richard Brautigan. Loading Mercury with a Pitchforkk. 1976. 127 pp.

Brautigan is always worth a few smiles. You can read this in about 15 minutes. Not every poem comes off, but enough of them do to make it a pleasant 15 minutes.

All the books have stars, because I've decided not to read books I don't like, unless I have to for professional reasons.