James Kilpatrick has an opinion piece up on Yahoo! News talking about the newest US Poet Laureate Charles Simic. Kilpatrick touches on the fact that he had never heard of Simic or his poetry until last month, even as a poet and poetry lover himself.
“The United States has a new poet laureate. He is Charles Simic of New Hampshire. In the small world of poetry, his name is known quite well. Born in Yugoslavia in 1938, he immigrated to the United States in the 1950s. After a brief period in Chicago, he settled in New England. He has written 18 books of poetry and half a shelf of other works. He won the Pulitzer for poetry in 1990. This year he won the $100,000 Wallace Stevens award for poetry.
Until he became our poet laureate earlier this month, I had never heard of the gentleman. And I have loved poetry, and written bad verse, since I first met Mary and her little lamb 80-odd years ago…”
For those who do not know who he is, Charles Simic has been regarded as one of America’s finest poets who has the ability to write about the deeper meaning in the ordinary aspects of life. He is the author of 18 books of poetry. He is also an essayist, translator, editor and professor emeritus of creative writing and literature at the University of New Hampshire Some of his books of poetry include Night Picnic: Poems (2001), Jackstraws (1999), a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; Walking the Black Cat (1996), a finalist for the National Book Award in poetry; A Wedding in Hell (1994); Hotel Insomnia (1992); and Selected Poems: 1963-1983.
Click here to read more about Charles Simic
