#pleaseexcusethispoem

This book of poems is amazing. It has 100 poems that are important for this generation to read. It's been pretty interesting. #poetry #poet #poems #pleaseexcusethispoem #bookstagram #bookish #queer #rapeculture #triggerwarnings

from the Akron-Summit County Public Library. We love libraries and librarians!! 

Talking to these smart, talented, beautifully, brutally honest students today about Please Excuse This Poem -- and poetry in general -- was so much fun! 

With Rob Casper of the LOC, poet Jennifer Chang, PETP co-editor Lynn Melnick, Viking Books senior editor Sharyn November, and poet Mark McMorris.

Kevin Prufer is the author of several books of poetry, including National Anthem, In a Beautiful Country, and Churches. He’s also edited or co-edited several anthologies, including New European Poets and New Young American Poets. The recipient of grants and awards from the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Society of America, he teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston. * * * First poems you read or loved: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot. I had no idea what it meant, but I loved how it sounded. “Auto Wreck” by Karl Shapiro “The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me” by Delmore Schwartz Favorite poems or book of poems: John Keats’ Odes Elizabeth Bishop’s Collected Poems Stevie Smith’s Selected Poems but these are always changing…. What was the last book of poems you read: Anne Carson’s Glass, Irony & God Your favorite motto / quote:  In my dreams they are always waving their hands and saying goodbye, And they give me the stirrup cup and I smile as I drink,    I am glad the journey is set, I am glad I am going, I am glad, I am glad, that my friends don't know what I think. —Stevie Smith Your favorite occupation / hobby: I like to walk long distances through Houston, TX.  Your idea of happiness: Unlimited time Your idea of misery: The middle seat on an airplane stranded on a runway in a snowstorm Your favorite virtue: Generosity toward the ideas and sensibilities of others What you appreciate the most in your friends: The above. And a willingness to engage in uncompetitive conversation about ideas hoping to discover something new. Your favorite prose authors: Henry James and Virginia Woolf Your favorite artist or musician: I don’t have one, though right now I am listening to the piano compositions of Edward MacDowell. The natural talent you would most like to have: I’d love to be a be able to travel back in time. Is that a natural talent? If it doesn’t qualify, then I’d like to play the violin very well. What is your present state of mind: I’m sitting at my desk looking out the upstairs window onto 14th Street in Houston, Texas. Uncharacteristically chilly out, but kind of nice. Almost no traffic. Peaceful. What can’t you tolerate: I am uninterested in artistic or literary trendiness. Conversations about what the next “new thing” is make me depressed.  What is your favorite food or drink: Pickles. Light red wine. What is your least favorite word: Fannypack What is your favorite word: Hyacinth --questions answered December 13, 2013

Julian Talamantez Brolaski is the author of Advice for Lovers (City Lights 2012), gowanus atropolis (Ugly Duckling Presse 2011) and co-editor, with E. Tracy Grinnell and erica kaufman, of NO GENDER: Reflections on the Life & Work of kari edwards (Litmus Press / Belladonna Books 2009).  Xe lives in San Francisco. * * * First poems you read or loved: Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) Favorite poems or book of poems: Shakespeare’s Sonnets What was the last book of poems you read: Harryette Mullen’s Sleeping with the Dictionary Your favorite motto / quote: “Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy” –Shakespeare, Sonnet 8.2 Your favorite occupation / hobby: Lexicography / Singing Your idea of happiness: A warm dictionary Your favorite virtue: Kindness What you appreciate the most in your friends: Frankness Your favorite artist or musician: Hank Williams  The natural talent you would most like to have: Perfect pitch What is your present state of mind: Snacky What can’t you tolerate: The intolerant What is your favorite food or drink: Tacos What is your least favorite word: Lugubrious What is your favorite word: Antwerp --questions answered January 14, 2013

First poems you read or loved: Dr. Seuss’s work was an early favorite and is a very clear inspiration for the poems I am working on currently. (Rhymes, rhymes, and more rhymes.)  Favorite poems or book of poems: My favorite poems change almost daily. I am a believer in the subjective reading experience—the poems serve the reader day to day, month to month, year to year; my love for various poems changes according to the changes in my life. Some books that have stayed with me: Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson, Collected Poems of John Donne. I love The Little Door Slides Back by the contemporary poet and prolific book designer Jeff Clark, Tremolo by poet and lawyer Spencer Short, The Cloud Corporation by Timothy Donnelly, and many books by contemporary poet Juliana Spahr. Other favorite living poets Elizabeth Willis, Susan Wheeler, Brenda Shaughnessy, and Lara Glenum. What was the last book of poems you read: In tandem: God Loves You, by Kathryn Maris and World Enough, by Maureen McLane. Your favorite motto / quote: It is cheesy, but I heard this mantra in a yoga class with Dechen Thurman, Uma’s brilliant, charismatic, and otherworldly younger brother. “Thank you / I love you.” I think this to myself at night while I fall asleep. It sweeps everything else away. “Cleanliness [of mind] is next to Godliness.” Your favorite occupation / hobby: Obsessing. I obsess and then obsess about obsessing. Your idea of happiness: Living on an environmentally healthy and rational planet, the human world at peace and free of nuclear armaments. Your idea of misery: Worrying that my son or daughter will end up in a war over natural resources; that anyone at all will end up in such a conflict. That all of us will end up being burned to cinders by a nuclear event; that we will irrevocably trash our only home. Your favorite virtue: No bullshit. No hypocrisy. Doing things right the first time. In my mind, these three virtues are one and the same. What you appreciate the most in your friends: See above Your favorite prose authors: Jane Austen, Joan Didion, and Mary Gaitskill Your favorite artist or musician: Kanye West The natural talent you would most like to have: I wish I could make music like Kanye West. What is your present state of mind: Optimistic within the limits of this world. What can’t you tolerate: Double-speak. Hypocrisy. What is your favorite food or drink: Mashed potatoes What is your least favorite word? “Problematize” What is your favorite word? I used to love the word “adumbrate.” I tend to like Latinate words. A word I used recently in a poem that I love is “fibromixoid.” “Catabolic” is another I am grooving on lately.                                     --questions answered December 8, 2014

Sandra Simonds is an assistant professor of English at Thomas University in Thomasville, Georgia. She is the author of four collections of poetry including Mother Was a Tragic Girl (Cleveland State University Press, 2012) and The Sonnets (Bloof Books, 2014). Her poems have appeared in Poetry, The American Poetry Review, Boston Review, and elsewhere.  * * *  First poems you read or loved: “To the Reader” by Charles Baudelaire  Favorite poems or book of poems: Sylvia Plath’s poems in Ariel What was the last book of poems you read: My friend Brandi George’s book called Gog.  Your favorite motto / quote: Mae West says “Between two evils, I always picked the one I never tried before” Your favorite occupation / hobby: Being a professor Your idea of happiness: A long hike in the mountains or a swim in the ocean Your idea of misery: Being in an office all day every day Your favorite virtue: Compassion What you appreciate the most in your friends: Sincerity, kindness, loyalty, intelligence, humor but most of all I want to learn from my friends Your favorite prose authors: James Baldwin, Walter Benjamin, Virginia Woolf Your favorite artist or musician: Pavement The natural talent you would most like to have: The ability to sing…when I sing, my kids tell me to stop What is your present state of mind: Energetic What can’t you tolerate: Ignorance, racism, misogyny, cruelty What is your favorite food or drink: Gin What is your least favorite word: Don’t have one. I think all words are created equal. It’s how you combine words that matters. What is your favorite word: “Love” but when my 18 month old daughter says it so it sounds like “Luff”  --questions answered January 6, 2014