[T]here is a special intimacy to poetry, because,
in this idea of the art, the medium is not an expert's body,
as when one goes to the ballet: in poetry, the medium is
the audience's body. . . the artist's medium is my breath.
The reader's breath and hearing embody the poet's words.
This makes the art physical, intimate, vocal, and individual.
~ Robert Pinsky in The Sounds of Poetry
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I found Robert Pinsky's The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide (1998) at Strand Books on my last visit to New York City. The book was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award.
A tireless advocate for poetry, Pinsky is one of America's most well-known and admired poets. His collections include Gulf Music: Poems (2007), Jersey Rain (2000), and The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems 1966-1996 (1996), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and won the 1997 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize.
In addition to his poetry, Pinsky has published prose, including an electronic novel, Mindwheel (1985); and award-winning translations, including the multi-lingual The Inferno of Dante (1994).
Pinsky was Poet Laureate of the United States from 1997 to 2000.
Pinsky's poetry can be found easily on the Web. A number of online poems are here.
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2 comments:
I read this book recently and found it very insightful, enjoyable, helpful and stimulating. I especially like the point he makes, and which you quote him on, about poetry being a 'corporeal art'... so true, but often easy to lose sight of.
cool stuff.
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