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1. Letter from the Editors

Dear Readers,

Many, many thanks to our loyal readers who have contributed so far our 20th anniversary fund drive! Our total through Thursday's mail has risen to over $8,000. If you value Poetry Daily and have not sent a donation, please consider helping us reach our goal of $60,000 from individual contributors.

Every day in April, to celebrate our anniversary, we present a Poets’ Picks feature from years gone by, delivered to you by e-mail (and available in our archive). We hope you enjoy these as much as we have!

This week's prose feature is Trevor Barnett's "Swimming in the Drowned River of Contemporary American Poetry," from Plume, Issue 69:

"If poetry were a river in America, it would be a drowned river, that is, a river that’s overflowed its banks."

Look for it here...

Enjoy this week's poems!

Warmest regards,

Don Selby & Diane Boller

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2. Sponsor Messages

Poetry Out Loud National Finals
In the lead up to the teen poetry Olympics, students from around the country will vie for the championship title in poetic prowess at the 12th annual Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest hosted by poet Elizabeth Acevedo and accompanied by musical guest Ben Sollee. Nine of the fifty three champions from every state, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC, will gather at the Poetry Out Loud finals on Wednesday, April 26 at 7:00 pm at Lisner Auditorium at The George Washington University, 730 21st Street NW, Washington, DC. This event is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are required; ASL interpretations included.

New Letters Literary Awards
Deadline:  May 18, 2017.   New Letters magazine invites you to submit fiction, essays, or poetry to the 2017 New Letters Literary Awards.   Winners receive $1,500 for best essay, $1,500 for best poetry, and $1,500 for best fiction, and publication in a special 2018 awards issue of New Letters.  For guidelines, visit http://www.newletters.org, or send and S.A.S.E. to New Letters Awards for Writers, 5101 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110

Sixteen Rivers Press
Sixteen Rivers Press, a Northern California poetry collective, announces the publication of their 2017 books: Body, in Good Light by Erin Rodoni and This Sweet Haphazard by Gillian Wegener. Ilya Kaminsky writes that Rodoni’s book “journeys out into the world, but also inward—into the mysteries of private life” and calls it “a marvelous debut,” while Jane Mead tells us that Wegener “sees the beauty and melancholy all around her” and refers to her collection as “a beautiful book of powerful poems.” Sixteen Rivers Press is now celebrating its eighteenth year of publishing fine poetry.

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3. Poetry News Links

News and reviews from around the web, updated daily:

• David Roderick introduces "2pac couplets" by Chinaka Hodge. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Rebecca Foust introduces "Easter" by Marie Howe. (Women's Voices for Change)
• John Banville reviews Robert Lowell: Setting the River on Fire, by Kay Redfield Jamison. (The Irish Times)
• "On the Fifth Day," by Jane Hirshfield. (The Washington Post)
• Felicity Plunkett reviews Then Come Back: The Lost Neruda Poems, by Pablo Neruda, translated by Forrest Gander. (The Australian)
• NPR talks with the United States Poet Laureate. (NPR)
• Griffin Poetry Prize: Canadian and international shortlists announced. (Toronto Star)
• Andrew McCulloch introduces Lascelles Abercrombie's "The Lover in Wartime." (The Times Literary Supplement)
• And more...

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4. Selected New Arrivals

These and other new arrivals are available for purchase via Poetry Daily/Amazon.com.

• Abloom & Awry, Tina Kelley (CavanKerry Press)
• The Best of Poetry in Motion, Alice Quinn, editor (W. W. Norton & Company)
• Luz Bones, Myrna Stone (Etruscan Press)
• Phases, Mischa Willett (Cascade Books)
• Chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum, Nadine Sabra Meyer (New Issues Press)
• Dark Tussock Moth, Mary Cisper (Trio House Press, Inc.)
• Our Lady of Not Asking Why, Courney Kampa (New Issues Press)
• Selected Poems, Colette Bryce (Picador Poetry)
• Upcycling Paumanok, Ned Balbo (Measure Press)
• Ornament, Anna Lena Phillips Bell (University of North Texas Press)
• Fugitive, in Full View, Jack Marshall (Coffee House Press)
• Now Here, Crystal Spring Gibbins (Holy Cow! Press)
• Makeshift Cathedral, Peter Laberge (YesYes Books)
• I'm So Fine: A List of Famous Men and What I Had On, Khadijah Queen (YesYes Books)
• Gilt, Raena Shirali (YesYes Books)
• Having and Keeping, David Watts (Brick Road)

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5. This Week’s Featured Poets

The work of the following poets will appear as Today's Poem on the days indicated:

Monday - Martín Espada
Tuesday - Natalie Shapero
Wednesday - Shane McCrae
Thursday - Jacques J. Rancourt
Friday - Michael O'Brien
Saturday - Andrea Cohen
Sunday - Jo McDougall

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6. Featured Poets April 10, 2017 - April 16, 2017

These and other past featured poets may be found in our archive:

Monday - Laura Scott
Tuesday - Michael Chitwood
Wednesday - Adrian Matejka
Thursday - Lee Sharkey
Friday - Michael Shewmaker
Saturday - Chase Twichell
Sunday - Jill McDonough

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7. Last Year’s Featured Poets

These poems will be retired from our archive during the coming week.

William Wenthe, "A Cedar in Paris"
Ocean Vuong, "Telemachus"
Les Murray, "Growth"
Maggie Dietz, "Still Falling"
Jamaal May, "Little Design"
Martha Collins, Two Poems
Gary Fincke, "Observing the Future"

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8. Poem From Last Year

Telemachus

Like any good son, I pull my father out 
of the water, drag him by his hair

through white sand, his knuckles carving a trail 
the waves rush in to erase. Because the city

beyond the shore is no longer 
where we left it. Because the bombed

cathedral is now a cathedral 
of trees. I kneel beside him to see how far

I might sink. Do you know who I am, 
Ba? But the answer never comes. The answer

is the bullet hole in his back, brimming 
with seawater. He is so still I think

he could be anyone's father, found 
the way a green bottle might appear

at a boy's feet containing a year 
he has never touched. I touch

his ears. No use. I turn him 
over. To face it. The cathedral

in his sea-black eyes. The face 
not mine—but one I will wear

to kiss all my lovers good-night: 
the way I seal my father's lips

with my own & begin 
the faithful work of drowning.

Ocean Vuong
Night Sky with Exit Wounds
Copper Canyon Press

Copyright © 2016 by Ocean Vuong
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission