Bruno Cooke traces the upward trajectory of Amanda Gorman, the youngest presidential inaugural poet in US history, and reviews her breakout collection, 'Call Us What We Carry' (Penguin, 2024).
Brilliant essay articulating the reservations and anxieties so many lovers of good poetry feel about so much of what now passes as ‘poetry’ in the glossy upper echelons of the public space. Thank you Friday Poem for posting this.
I found this a fascinating appraisal - fair and immensely helpful to the poet herself if she reads it.
I loved the comment re the T.S. Eliot prize and the seneschals pointing us poets in the 'approved' direction. Some of us resolutely continue to write against the grain with our poetry mates and love what we do regardless of the fashionistas.
Brilliant essay articulating the reservations and anxieties so many lovers of good poetry feel about so much of what now passes as ‘poetry’ in the glossy upper echelons of the public space. Thank you Friday Poem for posting this.
Bruno, you are the complete package!
I found this a fascinating appraisal - fair and immensely helpful to the poet herself if she reads it.
I loved the comment re the T.S. Eliot prize and the seneschals pointing us poets in the 'approved' direction. Some of us resolutely continue to write against the grain with our poetry mates and love what we do regardless of the fashionistas.
Even Eliot said we don’t know if our writing is any good.