what I liked 2003

Poetry books I read in 2003:

The Ghost Trio (1994) Linda Bierds
Holt & Co., NY

Wild One (2000) Lucille Lang Day
Scarlet Tanager, Oakland CA

Infinities (2002) Lucille Lang Day
Cedar Hill Pub, Mena AR

The New American Poetry, 1945-1960 (1960, 1999)
edited by Donald Allen
University of California Press, Berkeley CA

The Best American Poetry 2002 (2002)
edited by Robert Creeley; series editor: David Lehman
Scribner, NY

American Poetry Since 1950: Innovators and Outsiders (1993)
edited by Eliot Weinberger
Marsilio Pub, NY

The Penguin Book of Japanese Verse (1964)
edited & translated by Geoffrey Bownas & Anthony Thwaite
Penguin Bks, Baltimore MD

An Anthology of Modern Japanese Poetry (1957)
edited & translated by Ichiro Kono & Rikutaro Fukuda
Kenkyusha Ltd, Tokyo

Anthology of Modern Japanese Poetry (1972)
translated & compiled by Edith Marcombe Shiffert & Yuki Sawa
Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland VT

Chieko's Sky (1978) Kotaro Takamura, translated by Suichi Furuta
Kodansha Intl, Tokyo

Like Underground Water: the poetry of mid-twentieth century Japan (1995)
translated by Naoshi Koriyama & Edward Lueders
Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend WA

Mountain Home: the wilderness poetry of ancient China (2002)
selected & translated by David Hinton
Counterpoint, NY

The Art of Drowning (1995) Billy Collins
University of Pittsburgh Pr, Pittsburgh PA

Picnic, Lightning (1998) Billy Collins
University of Pittsburgh Pr, Pittsburgh PA

Braided Creek: a conversation in poetry (2003) Jim Harrison & Ted Kooser
Copper Canyon Pr, Port Townsend WA

Diminutive Revolutions (2000) Daniel Bouchard
Subpress Collective, Honolulu HI

Pages (1969) Aram Saroyan
Random House, NY

Anthology of Contemporary French Poetry (1971)
edited & translated by Graham Dunstan Martin
University of Texas Press, Austin TX

Mid-century French Poets (1955)
edited by Wallace Fowlie
Twayne Pub, NY

Modern French Poetry (1975)
edited & translated by Patricia Terry & Serge Gavronsky
Columbia University Press, NY

Nine Horses (2002) Billy Collins
Random House, NY

Sailing Alone Around the Room: new & selected poems (2001) Billy Collins
Random House, NY

From the Country of Eight Islands: an anthology of Japanese poetry (1981)
edited & translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson
Anchor Bks, NY


***


I copied out a total of 57 poems; nothing from 13 of the above books; 36 from Eight Islands alone -- I think that's the most I've ever copied out from a single book (consider that this includes 7 haiku by Kobayashi Issa, 5 tanka by Saigyo, 3 haiku by Masaoka Shiki, etc.) ...

At the end of the year / beginning of the next I read aloud every poem I've saved. I try to do it at one sitting.