BAP 2010 Launch Reading in New York

A year ago, I sat in the audience for the launch reading of the Best American Poetry 2009; tonight I'll be on the stage. Sometimes you just gotta pause and say Wow. I'll be reading "Unit of Measure," which also appears in I Was the Jukebox. 

The Best American Poetry 2010 launch reading 

Featuring guest editor Amy Gerstler, series editor David Lehman and a line-up of contributors that includes Sandra Beasley, Mark Bibbins, Peter Davis, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Lynn Emanuel, Elaine Equi, Jill

Alexander Essbaum, Amy Glynn Greacen, Kimiko Hahn,

David Lehman, Jeffrey McDaniel, Eileen Myles, Sharon Olds, Gregory Pardlo, James Richardson,

David Shapiro, Gerald Stern, Dara Wier, Terence Winch and Matthew Yeager. 

Thursday, September 23, 7:00 PM (Doors open at 6:30)

The New School - 66 West 12th Street (between 5th & 6th)

Free and open to the public

Publisher's Weekly had this to say about the 2010 edition:

This year's annual roundup of poems published in literary magazines includes the usual big names (John Ashbery, Billy Collins, Adrienne Rich, Charles Simic) and a sampling of lesser known, newer writers (Sandra Beasley, G.C. Waldrep, Mark Wunderlich) as well as a few true newbies like Matthew Yeager, whose talky excerpted long poem asks some laugh-out-loud-funny questions: "Do you eat the crusts of pizza, or only/ when they're excellent or you're hungry?" James Richardson's aphorisms, fifty of which appear here, will quietly blow minds: "My best critic is me, too late," reads number 40. Lucia Perillo's "Inseminating the Elephant" describes exactly what the title suggests. James Tate takes a rambling walk in prose that amounts to a meditation on what depression really means. In her introduction, Gerstler extols poetry's capacity to serve joyful as well as "darker, maybe more complicated needs." As usual, this anthology has something for every kind of poetry reader, and serves as a helpful introduction for newcomers curious about the contemporary poetry landscape. (Sept.)

My life is a little ragged right now, but you know what? I'm sharing a pair of parentheses with G. C. Waldrep and Mark Wunderlich. I have no excuse not to smile, none. Time to put a fancy dress on and climb on stage. If you're in New York City, I hope to see you there!