The Bloomsbury Handbook of Contemporary American Poetry

Handbooks of this kind rarely – if ever – give the poets themselves the microphone. I wish more would follow The Bloomsbury’s example. The questions poised are provocative and the answers illuminating (and sometimes suggestively elusive) ... A charming, idiosyncratic, and weirdly seductive map to a whole lot of poems. * The Robert Graves Review *
This is such a wonderful anomaly among handbooks of poetry that I read it in one sitting. It is multicultural and multifaceted, personal and provocative, witty and wacky. The Handbook is an exciting mélange that will appeal to every scholar, student, and lover of American poetry. * Marian Janssen, Researcher at Radboud Institute for Culture and History, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands *
Steven Gould Axelrod and Craig Svonkin sought “a whale of a book.” Well, harpoon one they have, and no harm done. They right this vessel, sail the main of contemporary American poetry, and provision all with rich chowder. The crew within is as diverse, though better starred, than any that ever allegorized the decks of a Pequod. Here, surely, is a mast-head from which to survey our present literary horizons. Is this book indispensable? Reader, it is more. Climb aboard. * Mark Richardson, Professor of English, Doshisha University, JAPAN *
Joy and playfulness abound throughout The Bloomsbury Handbook of Contemporary American Poetry. It’s marked by a hip kind of New York Schoolish teasing subversion, making for a delightful read (it modulates into more overtly serious topics too, of course, and even play is taken seriously – or maybe ‘rigorously’ would be the more appropriate word). But as I suggested earlier, it doesn’t forget poems in its attention to literary history, poetics, and poets. One of the best parts of the book (also in the children’s poetry colloquy), is by our fellow Gravesian Michael Joseph, the editor of The Robert Graves Review and a poet himself. His piece concludes the colloquy, and while it is an extended response to Svonkin’s question, What advice might you offer scholars wanting to join the discussion of North American children's poetry? (p. 351), it functions equally well as advice for any scholar choosing ‘to join the discussion’ surrounding poetry of any kind. It also captures the canny wit and subversive charm of The Bloomsbury itself. * The Robert Graves Review *