I'm very excited to have my work included in The Hecht Prize Anthology 2005-2009, edited by Joseph Harrison and due out from Waywiser Press in November.

For info on all of Waywiser's fall titles, click here.

The anthology features a generous preview -- seven poems! -- of Every Possible Blue, which was a finalist/semifinalist for the Hecht Prize three times, and will be out from CW Books in May. This book also marks the start of my publishing relationship with Waywiser, since the press will be publishing my third book, This Time Tomorrow -- a finalist for the 2010 Hecht Prize -- in 2013.

I'm pleased to be in the good company of so many fine poets in this anthology -- and hope to actually meet some of them, and have the chance to read together, once the book is out. There's definitely a sense of kinship I feel with many of them, having competed for the prize over several years, and seen them doing the same. One of the less talked about benefits of entering book contests is learning about the work of other poets, whether they're the contest winners or your fellow finalists. It's not as fun as winning the contest, of course, but it widens your readerly sense of the poetry world.

 

My essay, “'Bamboo that seems Always my own Thoughts': Reading David Hinton’s Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology," is this week's prose feature on Poetry Daily.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Diane Boller and Don Selby!

In honor of National Poetry Month, I will once again be giving away some poetry books in April. Thank you to Kelli Russell Agodon for coming up with this great idea and getting so many people involved. What a nice way to share poetry (our own and others' work that we admire) with one another.  

The books I'm giving away are:  

1. Subject to Change, my book of poems about love and art and music and movies, published by New Issues in 2004.  

2. Disappears in the Rain, my chapbook-length poem set in Japan, written (very) loosely in the traditional renga linked verse form and published by Parlor City in 2009.  

3. The History of Anonymity, the debut collection from Jennifer Chang, published in the VQR Poetry Series in 2008.  

4. Holding Company, the most recent book by Major Jackson, published by WW Norton last year.  

The rules are simple: Leave your name and email address or blog address in the comments below by midnight EST on April 30th for your chance to win one of these books. On approximately May 1, I'll put all of those names in a hat and pick the winners. If you win one of these books, I will mail it to you. That's right -- free poetry delivered right to your door (or P.O. box)!  

And check out Kelli's blog for a rundown of all the other poets giving away books for National Poetry Month -- and the full scoop on this annual event, in case you want to get in on the fun and give away some poetry too.