{"product_id":"9780966491395","title":"My Business Is Circumference: Poets on Influence and Mastery","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Anyone interested in how language calls to language, and heart to heart, will find these pages irresistible.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"In this quirky, resonant, and necessary book, generously edited by Stephen Berg, a wide range of American poets at all stages of their writing lives offer their poems and choose their precursors, meditating with great humility and insight on the dual mysteries of influence and mastery, on the reading that fosters writing, on the shimmering nobility of poetry itself.\" —Edward Hirsch, Author of \u003ci\u003eHow to Read a Poem\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-eight distinguished contemporary American poets provide a multifaceted view of the creative process. Each poet has contributed a poem and chosen several poems by other poets that have influenced it. In an essay, each poet then describes how those influences have led to a sense of poetic mastery.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Contributors:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA.R. Ammons \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eL.S. Asekoff \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStephanie Brown \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHayden Carruth \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGillian Conoley \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAmy Gerstler \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJudith Hall \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHunt Hawkins \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJane Hirshfield \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClaudia Keelan \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYusef Komunyakaa \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLisa Lewis \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDana Levin \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLaurence Lieberman \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThomas Lux \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJane Mead \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJack Myers \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDonald Revell \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLen Roberts \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMichael Ryan \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIra Sadoff \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHugh Seidman \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJennifer Snyder Gerald Stern \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLucien Stryk \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKaren Volkman \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTed Weiss \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJoe Wenderoth\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"[A]n intimate and diverse look at the interactive processes of reading and writing: at its best, a compelling revelation of the ways in which the lifeblood of the poetic tradition seeps into the veins of the maker and is remade by this process in as much as it molds it.\"—\u003ci\u003eRain Taxi\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"My Business is Circumference will intrigue apprentice poets, teachers, and readers fascinated by writers creatively exploring their own material and philosophical foundations.\"—\u003ci\u003eForeword Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The collection's abundance should last you several seasons at the very least.\"—\u003ci\u003eThe Jewish Exponent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The younger poets male and female steal the show here; while many skirt the topic of mastery with respect to their own work, they are passionate about their influences, which range from Sei Shonagon to Walt Whitman to Sharon Olds.\"—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The poems selected are a delight. Placed with the work of the moderns they are sometimes a surprise. The juxtaposition invites the reader to puzzle out what the connection is between the two. It is a veritable Rorschach text touching on subtle and sometimes mysterious associations. The poets are generous in their description of their creative processes and revisit their first contact with the poems that inspired them, go on to share with us what touched them, what techniques influenced them and what they struggled with…With the encouragement of the editor, the poets in this book have generously offered to us their insight and art. For this they deserve a place of honor on our book shelves.\"—\u003ci\u003eSmall Press Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dry, Paul Books, Incorporated","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47009748910320,"sku":"9780966491395","price":26.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780966491395_p0.jpg?v=1763884112","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780966491395","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}