Sad Friends, Drowned Lovers, Stapled Songs

Sad Friends, Drowned Lovers, Stapled Songs by deNiord, Chard. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781934851272.

Literary Nonfiction. Poetry History & Criticism. This book of interviews with seven senior American poets—Jack Gilbert, Donald Hall, Galway Kinnell, Maxine Kumin, Lucille Clifton, Ruth Stone, and Robert Bly—and essays on Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowells correspondence, specifically her delicate outrage over his use of his wifes and daughters letters in his 1974 book, The Dolphin, James Wrights poem "To the Muse," and Philip Levines poems "The Simple Truth" and "Call It Music," presents a broad view of the bold and original epoch in contemporary American poetry following World War II. In their wise and always engaging responses and commentaries, deNiords subjects reflect candidly on their careers and the unprecedented big tent of American poetry today. "Chard deNiord is master of the immersed conversation. Informed, curious, knowing when to contend and when to unbend, he meets each of his poets on the high ground of their art, and seduces from them their most closely-held wisdom. SAD FRIENDS, DROWNED LOVERS, STAPLED SONGS is at once a schooling and a delight."—Sven Birkerts