James Tate

Highlights of Poetry. Index of poetry. How to Write Poetry.

How to write specific forms:
Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Tanka.
Concrete. Ghazal. Lai. Pantoum. Prose poem. Rondeau. Rubáiyát.
Sestina. Skaldic verse. Sonnet. Terza rima. Triolet. Tritina. Villanelle.

Poets: A.E. Housman. Adam Zagajewski. Agha Shahid Ali. Aleda Shirley. Anne Carson.
The Beowulf Poet. Billy Collins. Billy Collins exercise.
Snorri's Edda. Carl Dennis. Charles Atkinson. Chase Twichell. Clark Strand (haiku and essays). Corey Marks. François Villon. Franz Wright. Galway Kinnell. Gary Young. The Gawain Poet.
J. Zimmerman. J. Zimmerman (haiku). J. Zimmerman (tanka). J.D. McClatchy.
Jack Gilbert. James Tate. Jane Hirshfield. Jean Vengua. Jorie Graham. Karen Braucher. Karl Shapiro. Kay Ryan. Kay Ryan's style. Kay Ryan The Best Of It: New and Selected Poems.
Laureate Poets: Britain; USA.
Len Anderson. Les Murray. Li-Young Lee. Linda Pastan. Louise Glück.
Mary Oliver. Nordic Skalds. Pulitzer Poetry Prize (U.S.A). Richard Hugo. Rae Armantrout.
Robert Bly. Sappho. Sara Teasdale. Shiki (haiku). Snorri's Edda. Stephen Dunn.
Ted Kooser. W.S. Merwin.

James Tate
Books of Poetry (alphabetical). Time Line. Books.

James Tate featured in:

Best American Poetry: 2016 (guest editor Edward Hirsch) with "Dome of the Hidden Temple".

Best American Poetry: 1997 (guest editor James Tate).

Books of Poetry (alphabetical).

Shroud of the Gnome.
Blog entry.

Shroud of the Gnome: a collection of surreal and sometimes funny poems.

One of my favorites is 'Dream on' which begins:

"Some people go their whole lives without ever writing a single poem. Extraordinary people who don't hesitate to cut somebody's heart or skull open."

His "The Blind Heron" has a Steve Martin edge to it, taking the surreal into the completely unbelievable. It's amusing. But a generation from now, will we read him much, despite all his prizes? In a century, will all of this book's poems be out-of-print?

While I have no clue what most of these poems mean to the poet, I imagine they are gleefully significant to him and sometimes even to someone else. I do enjoy his wide range of vocabulary (I must get 'shampoo' and 'ergonomics' and 'parrot' into one of my poems), which he mixes with his surreal images as well as banal phrases like "It wasn't worth bothering with" (in "Twenty-five") and "he sort of did" (in "Faulty Diction").

Worshipful Company of Fletchers (1994).
Blog entry.

Another of his collections of surreal and sometimes funny poems.

National Book Award Winner.

Perhaps the most relevant is "Like a Scarf", which starts:

"The directions to the lunatic asylum were confusing; most likely they were the random associations and confused ramblings of a lunatic."

Mostly inaccessible except for the shortest poems like: "Annual Report" (p. 33) and "The Wrong Way Home" (p. 35) and "Porch Theory" (p. 56).

Acknowledges first publications in:

American Poetry Review
Antaeus
The New Yorker
Colorado Review
Cut Bank
Field
The Gettysburg Review
Harvard Review
Iowa Review
The Missouri Review
The Nation
New England Quarterly
The New York Times
Painted Bride Quarterly
Ploughshares

Time Line.

: Born.
1967.: 1st volume of poetry, The Lost Pilot, won the Yale Series of Younger Poets' Award.
1970.: Poetry: The Oblivion Ha Ha.
1971.: Poetry: Hints to Pilgrims.
1972.: Poetry: Absences.
1976.: Poetry: Jazz Viper.
1979.: Poetry: Riven Doggeries.
1983.: Poetry: Constant Defender.
1986.: Poetry: Reckoner.
1990.: Poetry: Distances from Loved Ones.
1992.: Poetry: Pulitzer Poetry Prize (U.S.A) for Selected Poems.
1994.: Poetry: Worshipful Company of Fletchers.
1997.: Guest editor for Best American Poetry: 1997.

Books.

Links and Books.

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