How to Win and Lose a Poetry Challenge

The #SealeyChallenge and what I learned from posting a poetry book for almost every day in August.

Just some of the books I named during the #SealeyChallenge on TwiX. Stallings is below but I didn’t mention her in the challenge. I am reading this book though.

Poetry’s been on my mind a lot lately. First,

Steve Knepper

and I are co-editing our annual Halloween edition of New Verse Review and submissions just opened Monday, September 1 and will close September 19. For more information, go to NVR’s Duosuma page.

Open for Halloween Subs/Best of the Net Nominations

And as you can see, NVR also nominated 6 poems for the Best of the Net awards. Congratulations to

Steven Searcy

,

Alice Allan

,

Midge Goldberg

, Jenna Lê, and T. O. Brandon (

Tyndall Brandon

) and

Sally Thomas

.

Speaking of Sally and Midge, I recently featured their books in the Sealey Challenge, a project named after the poet Nicole Sealey which encouraged people to read a poetry book every day in August and post about it on social media.

I decided to adapt this challenge a little bit for myself:

1. I was going to put more focus on the poet instead of just their book.

2. I was only going to post on one platform, X, which is where I had heard about the challenge in the first place. More than one place would consume too much time.

3. I had to post pictures of the books and not much else. Anything more and I was likely going to fall off the wagon.

4. To provide some type of equity, I alternated between women and men.

5. Given my work schedule there was no way to read the books cover to cover, but I tried to spend as much time as I could with a book if I couldn’t read it all the way through. I own many of these books so I had read them when they were purchased.

Here were my choices:

1. Jane Greer

The World as We Know It Is Falling Away & Love Like a Conflagration

Jane was the first poet to come to mind because she had just passed away in July. I had been re-reading her latest two books. I’m also editing a mini-issue of New Verse Review that honors her work and legacy. We were Facebook friends. I miss her.

2.

Paul J. Pastor

The Locust Years

Paul Pastor was my classmate last spring in my Poetry of Meditation class with Professor Ryan Wilson. He’s also written a very lyrical collection of poems, a formalist departure from his previous book, Bower Lodge.

3. Alexis Sears

Out of Order

It is always thrilling to find young formalist poets, and I think Alexis is really talented. Out of Order won the 2021 Donald Justice Poetry Prize and the Poetry By the Sea Best Book Award for 2022.

4. Anton Yakolev

One Night We Will No Longer Bear the Ocean

I met Anton in person when he read from this collection at the Newburyport Literary Festival, but I had known him from the Carmine Street Metrics event he hosts and his appearances with the Powow River Poets (of which he is a member).

5. Gillian Allnutt

How the Bicycle Shone: New and Selected

I first heard about Gillian Allnutt from Sally Thomas when I visited North Carolina a couple of summers ago, and this year I kept hearing about her from

Victoria

Moul on Substack — most recently in this review of Allnutt’s latest collection.

6. Alfred Nichol

After the Carnival

Gah! I love this book. Just buy it. You can read reviews in many places, but you can start here and here.

7. Deborah Warren

Connoisseurs of Worms

I saw Deborah at Frost Farm, and she told me she hasn’t written much poetry in a while. But when she was putting books out — those were fabulous.

8. A. M. Juster

Wonder and Wrath

Another excellent book of original poetry and translations. Mike is regular renaissance man: former director of Social Security, lawyer, poet, translator… and he has a sense of humor. And now he is a children’s book author.

9. Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz, trans.

Rhina Espaillat

The Liquid Pour in which my Heart has Run

I chose this book because I wanted to feature at least one book of translations, and Rhina has been an incredible friend and mentor to me. I also love her translation of St. John of the Cross’s poetry.

10.

Brian Brodeur

Every Hour Is Late

I first met Brian when he won Frost Farm a few years ago, and it was there that he gave me this book. This was a smart investment on his part because I have become the unofficial Brian Brodeur Booster of my MFA program and elsewhere. He recently won a Pushcart for his sonnet “Primer” and even more recently came in second place in the First Things poetry prize.

11. Marilyn Nelson

Augusta Savage

Again, Steve Knepper introduced me to this collection because he knew I wrote some metrical concrete poetry. It is so hard to do shape poetry very well, but Nelson executes it quite well in this biography told in verse.

12.

Boris Dralyuk

My Hollywood

I had only known Boris Dralyuk for his translations before, but his original poetry is masterful. I loved the autobiographical nature of this collection, and I hope he is working on another book.

13.

Midge Goldberg

To Be Opened After My Death

Midge is a delightful poet, and she also was a runner up in this year’s Plough poetry award.

14. Ryan Wilson

In Ghostlight

Before he was my professor, I saw Ryan read from this book at the famed Grolier Bookshop in Cambridge, MA. This is a fantastic collection from the former editor of Literary Matters.

15.

Maya Venters

(Maya Clubine)

Life Cycle of a Mayfly

While Maya was a student in the MFA program I am now in she won the Vallum Chapbook Prize. She is such a talented poet, and I am glad she was ever-so-briefly my classmate.

16-19.

Christopher Childers

The Penguin Book of Greek and Latin Lyric Verse

There was no way that I was going to read this in four days, but I did my best and I discovered how much I didn’t know about Greek and Latin verse. Every decent library needs a copy of this book.

20.

J.C. Scharl

Ponds

Though better known for her verse dramas, Jane works writes many forms, and you can see that in this fine debut collection.

21.

James Matthew Wilson

Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds

James has written a number of books, several of them are collections of poetry, but this one is my favorite. I’d gush, but then my classmates would accuse me of brown-nosing. He still grades my papers.

22.

Sally Thomas

Motherland

I first met Sally when she was a admin for a homeschooling group I was a member of, and I had no idea she as a poet. The publication of Motherland was the first I had heard that she wrote poetry. In some senses, this also marked the beginning of our friendship.

23.

Joseph Bottum

Spending the Winter

Jody Bottum is a riot. I met him at Frost Farm where he was an instructor. His enthusiastic poetry reading made me realize the importance of learning how to perform one’s own poetry. He is, along with Sally, one of the co-editors of

Poems Ancient and Modern

.

24. Anna Lewis

Memory’s Abacus

I loved this book, and you can read my review for New Verse Review here.

25.

Dana Gioia

Gods of Winter & Meet Me at the Lighthouse

It was my birthday, and I decided to go with vintage Gioia and recent Gioia. He’s a favorite.

26.

Katie Hartsock

Wolf Trees

Katie teaches literature and classics and it shows in this wonderful collection. There is an interesting melding of medical disability with ancient myth going on here. I’ll have to write about that later.

27.

Jesse Keith Butler

The Living Law

This is a great collection. Thoughtful, faithful, and well-crafted. Jesse is one of those outstanding Canadian poets writing right now.

28. Chelsea Woodard

At the Lepidopterist’s House

I didn’t know about Chelsea’s poetry until I saw her at the Newburyport Literary Festival. Her reading was amazing so I purchased her book. (Yes, readings can sell books!)

29.

Joshua Mehigan

Accepting the Disaster

This is one of the best books of poetry I have ever read. I read the triolets and weep at my inadequacy as a baby poet. Of all the poetry collections, this is probably the one I recommend the most often to my friends.

30.

Sarah Freligh

Sad Math

“Wondrous” is one of my favorite poems of all time, and it is the one that concludes this collection which was the winner of the 2014 Moon City Press Poetry Prize. It is also, most notably, it’s all free verse. I wrote about “Wondrous” in this Substack post, and it might be the most “viral” poem in any of the collections mentioned here.

31. Geoffrey Hill & Louise Glück

Speech! Speech! & Averno

Just last night I finished a Catherine Project class I was co-leading with

Andrew Schulman

on Hill’s Tenebrae. But all that reading made me want to pull out this book. I also had Glück for a paper I am writing about women and the underworld. I had been featuring so many living poets, I thought I would end on two great ones who have passed away. (And now Jane Greer, the first poet listed, is among them.)

BONUS: George David Clark

Newly Not Eternal

I had meant to post him and I thought I did, but now looking at the list… ooops. I love “A Few Keys” which is a poem that appears early in the collection.

You may be wondering…

So how did Zina lose the poetry challenge?

One of the things I tried to do was see if I could feature what was already on my bookshelf, and this is where I found the issue. Other than Alexis Sears, Marilyn Nelson, Dana Gioia, and Rhina Espaillat, my list looks pretty… white. And reading a diverse group of poets was part of the challenge. *DOH!*

Even worse,
I have NO ASIAN POETS on this list…
and I am Asian!

I am currently trying to remediate this by doing research!. I found this page with just Filipino poets so that’s a start.

How did this happen?

Well, I write in metrical verse and there aren’t many Asian poets that I know of who write in form other than fellow Filipino José Edmundo Ocampo Reyes. If a new book of poetry is out and it’s not in meter then I am, frankly, less inclined to buy it.

Please help me and comment with your favorite books of diverse verse. I have a list of poets I have already started — Shane McCrae is on there, so is Philip Metres… but I want to hear from you via comments!

Which poets am I missing?
What are your favorite collections?
Bonus points for rhyme and meter!

Thank you so much for reading! If you know anyone who can give me advice on broadening the range of poets I read please SHARE this post with them.