The Open Door: One Hundred Poems, One Hundred Years of "Poetry" Magazine

Description

When Harriet Monroe founded "Poetry" magazine in Chicago in 1912, she began with an image: the "Open Door". "May the great poet we are looking for never find it shut, or half-shut, against his ample genius!" For a century, the most important and enduring poets have walked through that door - William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens in its first years, Rae Armantrout and Kay Ryan in 2011. And at the same time, "Poetry" continues to discover the new voices who will be read a century from now. "Poetry's" archives are incomparable, and to celebrate the magazine's centennial, editors Don Share and Christian Wiman combed them to create a new kind of anthology, energized by the self-imposed limitation to one hundred poems. Rather than attempting to be exhaustive or definitive - or even to offer the most familiar works - they have assembled a collection of poems that, in their juxtaposition, echo across a century of poetry. Adrienne Rich appears alongside Charles Bukowski; poems by Isaac Rosenberg and Randall Jarrell on the two world wars flank a devastating Vietnam War poem by the lesser-known George Starbuck; August Kleinzahler's "The Hereafter" precedes "Prufrock," casting Eliot's masterpiece in a new light. Short extracts from "Poetry's" letters and criticism punctuate the verse selections, hinting at themes and threads and serving as guides, interlocutors, or dissenting voices. The resulting volume is an anthology like no other, a celebration of idiosyncrasy and invention, a vital monument to an institution that refuses to be static, and, most of all, a book that lovers of poetry will devour, debate, and keep close at hand. Contents Mastery and Mystery: Twenty-One Ways to Read a Century • Christian Wiman Editors’ Note Ezra Pound • In a Station of the Metro Kay Ryan • Sharks’ Teeth Marie Ponsot • Anti-Romantic Roddy Lumsden • The Young LeRoi Jones • Valéry as Dictator Edwin Arlington Robinson • Eros Turannos Ange Mlinko • It Was a Bichon Frisé’s Life . . . Muriel Rukeyser • Song August Kleinzahler • The Hereafter T. S. Eliot • The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Laura Kasischke • Look Weldon Kees • From “Eight Variations” Robert Creeley • For Love Mary Karr • Disgraceland Lucille Clifton • sorrows A. E. Stallings • On Visiting a Borrowed Country House in Arcadia Charles Wright • Bedtime Story Delmore Schwartz • In the Naked Bed, In Plato’s Cave William Matthews • Mingus at the Showplace Donald Justice • Men at Forty Ruth Stone • Forecast Craig Arnold • Meditation on a Grapefruit Josephine Miles • The Hampton Institute Album P. K. Page • My Chosen Landscape Theodore Roethke • Florist’s Root Cellar Wallace Stevens • Tea at the Palaz of Hoon Basil Bunting • From Briggfl atts Louise Bogan • Night Rodney Jack • After the Diagnosis Margaret Atwood • Pig Song Michael S. Harper • Blues Alabama Isaac Rosenberg • Break of Day in the Trenches George Starbuck • Of Late Randall Jarrell • Protocols Tom Disch • The Prisoners of War Seamus Heaney • A Dog Was Crying To-Night in Wicklow Also Hart Crane • At Melville’s Tomb Robert Hayden • O Daedalus, Fly Away Home Charles Bukowski • A Not So Good Night in the San Pedro of the World Adrienne Rich • Final Notations W. H. Auden • The Shield of Achilles Albert Goldbarth • He Has Alice Fulton • What I Like Edna St. Vincent Millay • Rendezvous Sylvia Plath • Fever 103° Lisel Mueller • In the Thriving Season Eleanor Wilner • Magnificat Atsuro Riley • Hutch Thomas Sayers Ellis • Or, Marianne Moore • No Swan So Fine John Berryman • The Traveler Averill Curdy • Sparrow Trapped in the Airport H. D. • His Presence Rae Armantrout • Transactions Gwendolyn Brooks • The Children of the Poor E. E. Cummings • What If a Much of a Which of a Wind Frederick Seidel • Mu‘allaqa Geoff rey Hill • The Peacock at Alderton May Swenson • Green Red Brown and White Anne Stevenson • Inheriting My Grandmother’s Nightmare Jeanne Murray Walker • Little Blessing for My Floater Brooklyn Copeland • Prayer’s End Jack Spicer • “Any fool can get into an ocean . . .” Alan Dugan • Fabrication of Ancestors Edward Dorn • Dark Ceiling W. S. Merwin • Search Party Lorine Niedecker • Three Poems Denise Levertov • Our Bodies James Wright • The Blessing Robinson Jeffers • Grass on the Cliff W. S. Di Piero • Big City Speech Cid Corman • From “Cahoots” Richard Wilbur • Hamlen Brook Rita Dove • Old Folk’s Home, Jerusalem Don Paterson • The Lie Maxine Kumin • Nurture William Carlos Williams • Paterson, Book V: The River of Heaven Ted Hughes • Heatwave John Ashbery • El Dorado Reginald Dwayne Betts • “For you: anthophilous, lover of flowers” Rachel Wetzsteon • On Leaving the Bachelorette Brunch Adrian Blevins • How to Cook a Wolf A. R. Ammons • Gravelly Run Samuel Menashe • Here Robert Duncan • Returning to Roots of First Feeling Jacob Saenz • Sweeping the States Langston Hughes • Blues in Stereo James Schuyler • Korean Mums George Oppen • Birthplace: New Rochelle Gary Snyder • Song of the Tangle Belle Randall • A Child’s Garden of Gods Isabella Gardner • The Widow’s Yard Thom Gunn • Lines for a Book Frank Bidart • From “The Third Hour of the Night” William Meredith • The Illiterate Rhina P. Espaillat • Changeling Maria Hummel • Station James Merrill • The Mad Scene W. S. Graham • The Beast in the Space William Butler Yeats • The Fisherman Acknowledgments Contributors