1. Once, he sung gospel: This is Sarah Jane Barnett's first book. I'm glad to see it, because Barnett is a daring poet—her poetry takes exciting formal risks, but it can kick you in the guts, as well.
2. Most people get funny when I talk about running: It's very hard to write about running, but the long poem 'Marathon Men' manages to suggest the strange, solitary rhythm of that lifestyle. I found it very moving—the lost-and-found artificial leg, the lonely old men, and the romantic turn of the rubbish-collector who invites the housekeeper out for a dance.
Joyce Carol Oates: Wild Nights!
In Wild Nights! Joyce Carol Oates riffs on the deaths of Hemingway, Emily Dickinson and others. Her take on the Great Dead Authors speaks powerfully to current debates about the use of real people in fiction.