Rae Armantrout, one of contemporary poetry's real stars, just one a National Book Critics Circle award for her latest collection. A quick takeaway: along with Keith Waldrop's recent National Book Award, this is a sign that poets from the "language poetry" scene and its tributaries are finally getting mainstream recognition. Armantrout, in particular it seems to me, has managed to infiltrate (I know that sounds loaded with connotations, but I like the word) the traditional poetry venues that typically have eschewed avant-garde or post-avant work in the past. She seems like a fairly regular contributer to publications like The New Yorker and Poetry these days). If I were less lazy, I'd create a link to one of her readings on Youtube. Instead, I'll just attach a cover illustration and hope you'll seek out Armantrout's poetry, which I like to think of as spare and wry and surprising. I often feel like someone walking on a new hiking trail when I read her, always wondering what's around the next bend or beyond the next clearing in the forest.
P.S. Armantrout is involved in a reading/discussion, along with a Buddhist priest, this Tuesday (3/16) at Poet's House at 7 p.m.
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