Alex Dimitrov is a poet and man about town who works at the Academy of American Poets by day and hosts a “queer poetry salon” called Wilde Boys at night. We asked him to curate a list of his favorite poets who came of age a decade before him, in the weird and wonderful 1990s. He writes, “Happy National Poetry Month, everyone! Here are ten contemporary poets, among the many I read and admire, that you may get into this month. Most of them have a few books out and are poets who I, as a late 2000s poetry baby, grew up reading along with the so-called ‘classics.’”
The group Dimitrov chose is cosmopolitan, accomplished, and is perhaps younger than what we normally imagine our poets being. “I want you guys to know that not all poets are 105 years old and writing abstract dribble in some attic in New England,” he explains. “Poets live real lives and sometimes walk down the street like rock stars.” The scales favor published Brooklynites, which is probably unsurprising if you’re Colson Whitehead, but there’s a good mix of styles between them so don’t hate us too much. Let us know who you think we left out in the comments section below.
Thomas Sayers Ellis
Thomas Sayers Ellis is the author of The Maverick Room and Skin, Inc.: Identity Repair Poems and is the co-founder of the Dark Room Collective, an influential community of African-American poets which began in the late 1980s in Boston.
Comments (15)
There’s an incredible poetry scene in the southeast US, with the heartbeat in Georgia. Poetry Atlanta is the nexus, with a myriad of award-winning poets under the umbrella. Karen Head, Collin Kelley, the list goes on…
i love nick flynn’s prose, but i first fell in love with his poetry. highly recommend.
all of these poets are striking sexy poses. I appreciate that.
I was excited to see a few poets whose work I already love (who doesn’t like seeing photos of people whose voices you know on the page) but really appreciate being introduced to brand new names as well. National Poetry Month huzzah!
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How about Joanna Klink, Cathy Park-Hong, or Katie Ford? No? What about Timothy Donnelly, Ben Lerner, and Geoffrey G. O’Brien? All of those names are in the same age cluster. Ah, but there are no lists that are complete.
There are a host of poets not working on the coasts and the Midwest is booming. Check it out next time.
So basically, all of Alex’s *friends* are “important” poets we should all know. Sheesh. What a lame list. It would be more exciting if Alex didn’t actually hang out with these poets. #poetFAIL
[...] 30. 10 Contemporary Poets You Should Know [...]
No Chicago poets? What a missed opportunity to talk about some of the most exciting work happening right now. Jennifer Karmin, Timothy Yu, Laura Goldstein, Lisa Jannsen, and Amina Cain (now based in LA) are among my favorites.
Wow. This list is backscratching to the maxxx! Midwest rocks. Look into it.
Kenneth Goldsmith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Goldsmith
http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/goldsmith/
“Ethereal,” whispers the vessel.
Trembling transmitted frequencies become glimmering.
offBeatniX wordz of Dovin Melhee
http://www.amazon.com/nSpace-Dovin-Melhee/dp/0557221889/
[...] there was a dearth of poets from the Midwest and South in our last poetry post, we’d like to like to call attention to ten emerging poets from this giant swath of land who [...]
[...] Thomas Sayers Ellis Source: 10 Contemporary Poets You Should Know, [...]
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