This year's nominees for a National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry are Frank Bidart's "Metaphysical Dog," Lucie Brock-Broido's "Stay, Illusion," Denise Duhamel's "Blowout," Bob Hicok's "Elegy Owed" and Carmen Gimenez Smith's "Milk and Filth." Congratulations to all.
We're especially thrilled for Denise Duhamel, one of our favorite poets and the guest editor of The Best American Poetry 2013. Here's what David Lehman writes about Denise in his introduction:
Denise Duhamel, who chose the poems for The Best American Poetry 2013, has appeared in the series seven times since Louise Glück and A.R. Ammons picked poems of hers in back-to-back volumes in 1993 and 1994. It would have been eight times if the editor hadn't declined to include herself: her "Ode to the Other Woman's Ass" in Ecotone (and reprinted on The Best American Poetry blog) has the traits--humor, warmth, passion, intelligence, and genuineness--that make her poems irresistible. "Exuberance is beauty," wrote William Blake. "Energy is eternal delight." Denise has as much natural exuberance as anyone practicing the art, with a seemingly unlimited amount of renewable energy. I have known and worked with Denise for many years. When a production of her play How the Sky Fell ran for four performances in an Off-Off-Broadway theater in 1997, I was in the cast. Over the years she and I have spent more than a few afternoons collaborating on a play, poems, or other projects. I knew we'd have fun working together and I suspected that she would have a large appetite for the many kinds of poetry being written at the moment. But I was not prepared for her intesity of focus. No sooner did she receive a magazine than its contents were devoured and considered for an ever-growing list of poems that elicited Denise's enthusiasm. It is always difficult making cuts, but Denise's professionalism ruled the day. In the making of one of these books the production schedule requires more than one deadline. Never before in the twenty-six years of this series did I work with an editor who managed to beat every deadline along the way.
Here's a link to Denise Duhamel's poem How it Will End, which Robert Pinsky included in The Best of the Best American Poetry (April, 2013).
And here's a link to Ode to the Other Woman's Ass.
You can buy Denise's NBCC nominated book Blowout here.
-- sdh
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