The selected early poems by Mark Doty including the complete texts of Turtle, Swan and Bethlehem in Broad Daylight for which Mr. Doty has contributed a new introduction.
"Alphabetically arranged entries present 62 contemporary gay American poets and dramatists. While the majority of included writers are younger artists who came of age in the post-Stonewall United States, some are older authors whose work has continued or persisted into recent decades. A number of these writers are well known. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and includes a biography, a discussion of major works and themes, an overview of the author's critical reception, and primary and secondary bibliographies."--BOOK JACKET.
Mark Doty has always felt haunted by Walt Whitman’s bold, new American voice, and by his equally radical claims about body and soul and what it means to be a self. In What Is the Grass, Doty – a poet, a lover of men, a New Yorker, and an American – keeps company with Whitman and his mutable, landmark work, Leaves of Grass, tracing the resonances between his own experience and the legendary poet’s life and work. What is it, then, between us? Whitman asks. Doty’s answer is to explore spaces tied to Whitman’s life and spaces where he finds the poet’s ghost, meditating on desire, love, and the mysterious wellsprings of the poet’s enduring work. How does a voice survive death? What Is the Grass is a conversation across time and space, a study of the astonishment one poet finds in the accomplishment of another, and an attempt to grasp Whitman’s deeply hopeful vision of humanity.
First published in 2004. With subjects drawm from politics, the arts and popular culture, Who's Who in Contemporray Gay & Lesbian History, includes 500 entries from a large team of expert international contributors. The geographical scope takes in the whole of the Western world. Includes fascinating information about little-known figures as well as cult icons from World War II to the present day.
"HIV-Negative opens up a much-needed discussion about the position of the uninfected in a community devastated and alienated by plague. It is compelling reading for those who are considering HIV testing, who have tested HIV-negative, or who are in positive-negative relationships, and it is a valuable resource for counselors, social workers, and therapists interested in the mental health of gay men, and for researchers and community activists interested in HIV-prevention issues." "The voices in this book raise questions that resonate within all of us: How do we experience and define the meanings of sexuality, vulnerability, mortality, and responsibility in the age of AIDS?"--Jacket
Why do dogs speak so profoundly to our inner lives? When Mark Doty decides to adopt a dog as a companion for his dying partner, he finds himself bringing home Beau, a large golden retriever, malnourished and in need of loving care, to join Arden, the black retriever. As Beau bounds back to life, the two dogs become Mark Doty's companions, his solace, and eventually the very life force that keeps him from abandoning all hope during the darkest days - their tenacity, loyalty and love inspiring him when all else fails.
Outside the Lines gathers interviews with some of the most significant poets in contemporary American poetry. While each poet is gay, these encompassing, craft-centered interviews reflect the diversity of their respective arts and serve as a testament to the impact gay poets have had and will continue to have on contemporary poetics. The book includes fourteen frank, intense interviews with some of America's best-known and loved poets, who have not only enjoyed wide critical acclaim but who have had lasting impact on both the gay tradition as well as the contemporary canon writ large, for example, J.D. McClatchy and Frank Bidart. Some of the most honored and respected poets, still in the middle of their careers, are also included, for example, Mark Doty and Carl Phillips. Each interview explores the poet's complete work to date, often illuminating the poet's technical evolution, emotional growth, probing shifts in theme, and even investigating links between verse and sexuality.
In The Disappearing Trick, Len Roberts wrestles with the loss of loved ones--whether that loss be through death, a son moving away to college, or simply how people fade from our lives and memories. Hybrids of the narrative and lyric form, these poems are models of indirect statement that have, as Sharon Olds has said, “emotional courage, powerful music, and a deep balance.” Like the light shining on a face, or a girl’s thigh back in a sixth-grade class, the poems often come as Proustian flashes--lasting just a second, but seeming eternal--amid an increasing darkness.
"Winner of the American Book Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Stanley Hanks Memorial Poetry Award (judged by Philip Levine), and the Oklahoma Book Award, Jim Barnes has been hailed as ""a masterful poet, a most worthy voice for his generation"" (Samuel Maio) and ""one of the finest poets now writing in the United States"" (David Ray). This generous volume brings together for the first time three acclaimed collections of Barnes's poetry: The American Book of the Dead, A Season of Loss, and La Plata Cantata."
Renowned poet Lorna Goodison has written a new collection of elegies and praise songs which explore the close link between history and genealogy in the Caribbean experience. Her subjects range from the economic genius of market women to the complex beauty of the natural world.
