39. The Haiku Anthology, edited by Cor van den Heuvel
 

This anthology was groundbreaking when it first appeared in the early 1970s as exhibit A in the case to take contemporary, English-language haiku seriously. Though other excellent anthologies have emerged since then -- some with arguably better claims to breadth or inclusiveness -- each edition of The Haiku Anthology has managed to successfully reassert its status as the indispensable standard-bearer. It remains the one to start with, and the one to get if you can only get one.

Here is a purchase link.

(If this is not allowed because it is an anthology, I will take it back.)

David R.

Clarification: 2000 was the final year of the 20th Century, right?

David R.

David, I assume that if years 1-100 are the "1st Century," then years 1901-2000 are the "20th Century," and so I think you're fine suggesting something from the year 2000. (I wouldn't be in a position to criticize anyway, since I suggested a title from that year.)

In any case, you have me intrigued as to what book from 2000 you were going to suggest. (For the heck of it, I'll guess it's the one by Wilbur.)

Best, Bruce

40. Elephant Rocks by Kay Ryan
 

Ryan's distinctive style may have emerged in the poems of the previous volume, Flamingo Watching, but it was perfected with mastery in Elephant Rocks. Part Stevie Smith, part Emily Dickinson, part Marianne Moore, a dash of William Blake, and all Kay Ryan, that style is a feat itself -- compressed but expansive, terse but aerated, wry but warm, all achieved through masterful craftsmanship employing easy-flowing meter, clever and surprising rhymes, and uncanny line breaks.

I considered using my final selection on her subsequent volume, Say Uncle, but I think Elephant Rocks is the right choice because, as I said, she really perfected her style with it, and because it contains so many great poems -- "A Plain Ordinary Steel Needle Can Float on Pure Water," "Crib," "How Birds Sing," "Outsider Art," "Living With Stripes," "A Cat/A Future," and on and on.

Amazon link here.

David R.

(Bruce -- Say Uncle was the 2000 publication I was considering. The shameful truth is that, while I have great respect for his undeniable talent, Wilbur has never grabbed me. There, I said it.)

#41 I H Finlay The Dancers Inherit the Party
 

I've always known that the real reason I like poetry is because I am lazy about reading. Even when I go back to novels I loved when I was younger (Nevil Shute, Olivia Manning) - the story runs so very slowly.

I have no attention span. I can manage Laurence Sterne or Heinrich Böll - but really I want poetry.

Even then, I don't want poems I need to reread. I want short things that give me an immediate hit, and which I can readily memorise and replay when I am out walking. I like one-word poems, even no-word poems like the Fisches Nachtgesang over on the Poetry Appreciation thread. Like most reluctant readers, I want it short.

Many of I H Finlay's poems are really sculptures: inscribed paving slabs, or sundials with fancy mottoes. You hardly need to read those at all.

But I adore his tiny book of very short poems The Dancers Inherit the Party. The title poem alone (which is even better than its title) does more for me than entire books of more serious poetry. There are so many different kinds of poems (strictform, freeverse, keens, squibs, surrealist homilies) that even turning the pages is an adventure.

I also love the way that one of Scotland's most uncompromising modernists is also a poet of the islands.

Poet

At night, when I cannot sleep,
I count the islands
And I sigh when I come to Rousay
-- My dear black sheep.

It is as if Finlay doesn't care about schools or loyalties. He knows what is to say, and simply selects the swiftest route.

......

'Buying' Ian Hamilton Finlay's work is problematic in some respects.

But you could start here:

http://www.poets.org/sponsor-book-pr...prmBookID/1015

Bravo - for a poet too easily discarded from this list precisely because of the difficulty and variety of his - what shall one say?... formats... styles... manners? - not to say locations. A splendid recommendation which I'd second most heartily.

I've just ordered it from interlibrary loan. I've benefited before from Mr. O'Neill's recommendations, most notably Artorius.

It's so wonderful to meet other fans, and potential fans, of Finlay's odd approach to poetry.

Late in the 1970's (when I was living in London) I had the spectacular good fortune to visit an 'event' version of the Finlay / Clark Battle of Midway.

The seven combattant aircraft carriers are represented by live beehives in an approximate echo of the actual orientation, with the sea between replaced with rose standards in planters. The whole thing is housed in a pro-tem conservatory (as it needs to be, there are bees all over the place).

I'm not normally a fan of conceptual art, but Midway is unforgettable.

After you've been in there for quite a long time, you notice that some of the hives have a single joss-stick smoking next to them. Those are the carriers which were fired, and lost.

It is embarrassing to cry in public; but sometimes it is worth it.

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/...idway-i-p07932

Off-topic but what the heck. All's fair in love and literature threads.

These come immediately to mind. Just want to say I love Olivia's Balkan triology and Nevile's A Town Named Alice.

I'm still thinking about my poetry contributions though.

At some stage I read the Balkan Trilogy and the Levant Trilogy back to back. I don't think I could do that these days.

Nevile Shute for me was mainly On the Beach, though I have fond memories of Requiem for a Wren.

A Town Like Alice was a book I couldn't warm to because my father kept telling me how fine it was.