1988 in poetry

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Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

Events

 * The first annual The Best American Poetry volume is published this year.
 * During a poetry reading in which popular Russian poet Andrei Voznesensky took written questions from the audience, he read out two responses: "All of you are Jews or sold out to Jews", one read. Another only said, "We will kill you". In The Ditch: A Spiritual Trial, published in 1986, Voznesensky had written poetry and prose about a 1941 German massacre of 12,000 Russians in the Crimea, and the looting of their mass graves in the 1980s by Soviet citizens that was tolerated, he said, by officials because the victims were primarily Jews. Voznesensky read the notes out loud and challenged the writers to identify themselves. None did.

Works published in English
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:

Australia

 * Robert Gray, Piano
 * Jennifer Maiden, The Trust, Black Lightning, Australia
 * Chris Mansell, Redshift/Blueshift, Five Islands Press
 * Chris Wallace-Crabbe, I'm Deadly Serious, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Canada

 * Fred Cogswell, The Best Notes Merge.
 * Louis Dudek, Infinite Worlds: The Poetry of Louis Dudek. Robin Blaser ed. Monteal: VÃ©hicule.
 * Elisabeth Harvor, If Only We Could Drive Like This Forever
 * Dorothy Livesay, Beginnings. Winnipeg: Peguis.
 * Raymond Souster, Asking for More. Ottawa: Oberon Press.
 * Biography, Criticism, Scholarship
 * Roy Miki, Tracing the Paths, about bp nichol, critical study;

India, in English

 * Jayanta Mahapatra, Burden and Fruit ( Poetry in English ), Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press
 * Eunice de Souza, Women in Dutch Painting, Bombay: XAL-PRAXIS
 * Meena Alexander, House of a Thousand Doors ( Poetry and prose in English ),  Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, by an Indian writing living in and published in the United States
 * Sujata Bhatt, Brunizem ( Poetry in English ),Carcanet Press and New Delhi: Penguin; won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Asia) and the Alice Hunt Bartlett Award
 * Robin Ngangom, Words and the Silence ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop

Ireland

 * Ciaran Carson, The New Estate and Other Poems, Oldcastle: New Gallery Press, ISBN 978-1-85235-032-1
 * Harry Clifton, The Liberal Cage, Oldcastle: New Gallery Press, ISBN 978-1-85235-026-0
 * Paul Durcan, Jesus and Angela, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
 * Seamus Heaney: The Sounds of Rain, Emory University, Northern Irish poet at this time living in the United States
 * Valentin Iremonger, Sandymount, Dublin, including "This Houre Her Vigill", "Clear View in Summer" and "Icarus"
 * Thomas Kinsella:
 * Blood and Family, including "The Messenger" and "Out of Ireland"
 * One Fond Embrace: Peppercanister 13
 * Philippe Jaccottet, The Selected Poems of Philippe Jaccottet, Viking, translated from French by Derek Mahon, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
 * Medbh McGuckian, On Ballycastle Beach Northern Irish poet published in the United Kingdom

New Zealand

 * Fleur Adcock, Meeting the Comet, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe Books (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963)
 * Jenny Bornholdt, This Big Face
 * Allen Curnow, Continuum: New and Later Poems 1972â€“1988
 * Lauris Edmond, Summer Near the Arctic Circle
 * Michele Leggott, Like This?: Poems, Christchurch: Caxton Press, New Zealand
 * Cilla McQueen, Benzina winner of the 1989 New Zealand Book Award for Poetry
 * Ian Wedde, Tendering
 * Lydia Wevers, editor, Yellow Pencils: Contemporary Poetry by New Zealand Women, anthology

United Kingdom

 * Fleur Adcock, Meeting the Comet, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe Books (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963)
 * Patricia Beer, Collected Poems
 * Alison Brackenbury, Christmas Roses
 * CiarÃ¡n Carson: The New Estate and Other Poems, Gallery Press, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
 * Charles Causley, A Field of Vision
 * Jack Clemo, Selected Poems
 * Wendy Cope:
 * Does She Like Word-Games?
 * Men and their Boring Arguments
 * Helen Dunmore, The Raw Garden
 * Douglas Dunn, Northlight
 * Paul Durcan, Jesus and Angela, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
 * Elaine Feinstein, Mother's Girl: Hutchinson
 * David Gascoyne, Collected Poems
 * Lee Harwood, Crossing the frozen river: selected poems
 * Ian Hamilton, Fifty Poems
 * Seamus Heaney: The Sounds of Rain, Emory University, Northern Ireland native at this time living in the United States
 * John Heath-Stubbs:
 * Collected Poems 1942-1987, Carcanet Press
 * A Partridge in a Pear Tree: Poems for the Twelve Days of Christmas
 * Time Pieces, Hearing Eye. ISBN 1-870841-02-6
 * Selima Hill, My Darling Camel
 * Libby Houston, Necessity
 * Ted Hughes:
 * Moon-Whales, first British edition; published originally in the United States, 1976
 * Mick Imlah, Birthmarks (Chatto Windus, 1988), ISBN 978-0-7011-3358-0
 * Philippe Jaccottet, The Selected Poems of Philippe Jaccottet, translated from French by Derek Mahon, Viking
 * Philip Larkin, Collected Poems
 * Alan Jenkins, In the Hot-House
 * Philip Larkin, Collected Poems, edited by Anthony Thwaite; posthumously published
 * George MacBeth, Anatomy of a Divorce
 * Norman MacCaig, Voice-Over
 * Medbh McGuckian, On Ballycastle Beach Northern Ireland poet published in the United Kingdom
 * Edwin Morgan, Themes on a Variation
 * Grace Nichols, editor, Black Poetry, illustrated by Michael Lewis, Blackie (London, England), published as Poetry Jump-Up, Penguin (Harmondsworth, England), in 1989
 * Brian Patten, Storm Damage
 * Kathleen Raine, To the Sun
 * Peter Reading, Final Demands
 * Jeremy Reed, Engaging Form
 * Carol Rumens, The Greening of the Snow Beach
 * E. J. Scovell, Collected Poems
 * Peter Scupham, The Air Show
 * Jo Shapcott, Electroplating the Baby
 * R.S. Thomas, The Echoes Return Slow
 * Nika Turbina, First Draft: Poems by Nika Turbina, translated by Elaine Feinstein and Antonina W. Bouis, Marion Boyars
 * Heathcote Williams, Whale Nation

Anthologies

 * The New British Poetry, a poetry anthology, jointly edited by Gillian Allnutt, Fred D'Aguiar, Ken Edwards and Eric Mottram, respectively concerned with feminist, Afro-Caribbean, younger and British poetry revival poets, all writing from 1968 to 1988
 * Elaine Feinstein, editor, PEN New Poetry II, Quartet

United States

 * Meena Alexander, House of a Thousand Doors, poetry and prose, Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, by an Indian writing living in and published in the United States
 * Ted Berrigan, A Certain Slant of Sunlight
 * Joseph Brodsky: To Urania : Selected Poems, 1965-1985, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Russian-American
 * Gwendolyn Brooks, Winnie
 * Raymond Carver, In a Marine Light: Selected Poems
 * Maxine Chernoff, Japan (Avenue B Press)
 * Billy Collins, The Apple That Astonished Paris
 * Seamus Heaney: The Sounds of Rain, Emory University, Northern Ireland native at this time living in the United States
 * Jane Hirshfield, Of Gravity & Angels
 * John Hollander:
 * Melodious Guile: Fictive Pattern in Poetic Language
 * Harp Lake
 * Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of Japan (posthumous), translated by Jane Hirshfield and Mariko Aratani
 * Federico GarcÃ­a Lorca, Poeta en Nueva York first translation into English as "A Poet in New York" this year (written in 1930, first published posthumously in 1940)
 * William Logan, Sullen Weedy Lakes
 * James Merrill, The Inner Room
 * W. S. Merwin:
 * The Rain in the Trees, New York: Knopf
 * Selected Poems, New York: Atheneum
 * Michael Palmer, Sun
 * Marie Ponsot, The Green Dark
 * Rosmarie Waldrop, Shorter American Memory (Paradigm Press)

Poets appearing in The Best American Poetry 1988
The 75 poets included in The Best American Poetry 1988, edited by David Lehman, co-edited this year by John Ashbery:


 * A. R. Ammons
 * Ralph Angel
 * Rae Armantrout
 * John Ash
 * John Ashbery
 * Ted Berrigan
 * Mei-mei Berssenbrugge
 * George Bradley
 * Stefan Brecht
 * Joseph Brodsky
 * Nicholas Christopher
 * Marc Cohen
 * Wanda Coleman
 * Clark Coolidge
 * Alfred Corn


 * Douglas Crase
 * Robert Creeley
 * Tom Disch
 * Kenward Elmslie
 * Alice Fulton
 * Amy Gerstler
 * Jorie Graham
 * Deborah Greger
 * Allen Grossman
 * Barbara Guest
 * Rachel Hadas
 * Donald Hall
 * Robert Hass
 * Seamus Heaney
 * Anthony Hecht


 * Gerrit Henry
 * John Hollander
 * Richard Howard
 * Donald Justice
 * Robert Kelly
 * Kevin Killiam
 * August Kleinzahler
 * Carolina Knox
 * Kenneth Koch
 * John Koethe
 * Philip Lamantia
 * Ann Lauterbach
 * David Lehman
 * Philip Levine
 * Nathaniel Mackey


 * Michael Malinowitz
 * Tom Mandel
 * Harry Mathews
 * Bernadette Mayer
 * James Merrill
 * Eileen Myles
 * A. L. Nielson
 * Ron Padgett
 * Michael Palmer
 * Bob Perelman
 * Robert Pinsky
 * Donald Revell
 * Joe Ross
 * Leslie Scalapino
 * James Schuyler


 * David Shapiro
 * Charles Simic
 * Gary Snyder
 * Ruth Stone
 * May Swenson
 * James Tate
 * Lydia Tomkiw
 * Derek Walcott
 * Rosanne Wasserman
 * Majorie Welish
 * Susan Wheeler
 * Richard Wilbur
 * Alan Williamson
 * John Yau
 * Geoffrey Young

Other works published in English

 * Frank Birbalsingh, Jahaji Bhai: An Anthology of Indo–Caribbean Literature
 * Jayanta Mahapatra, Burden of Waves & Fruit, India

Works published in other languages
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:

Arabic language

 * Nizar Qabbani, Syrian:
 * Three Stone-throwing Children
 * Secret Papers of a Karmathian Lover
 * Biography of an Arab Executioner

French language

 * Michel Deguy, ComitÃ© ("Committee"), a book attacking French publishers for using poets they rarely publish themselves to help determine which books of poetry to accept; France
 * Abdellatif Laabi, translator, Je t'aime au grÃ© de la mort, translated from the original Arabic of Samih al-QÃ¢sim into French; Paris: Unesco/Ã‰ditions de Minuit
 * Jean Royer, PoÃ¨mes d'amour, 1966-1986, MontrÃ©al: l'Hexagone; Canada

India
Listed in alphabetical order by first name:
 * Debarati Mitra, Bhutera O Khuki, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers; Bengali-language
 * K. Satchidanandan, Veedumattam, ("Changing House"); Malayalam-language
 * K. Siva Reddy, Mohana! Oh Mohana!, Hyderabad: Jhari Poetry Circle, Telugu-language
 * Kedarnath Singh, Akal Mein Saras, Delhi: Rajkamal Prakashan; Hindi
 * Mallika Sengupta, Ami Sindhur Meye, Kolkata: Prativas Publication; Bengali-language
 * Nitin Mehta, Nirvan, Ahmedabad: Chandramauli Prakashan; Gujarati-language
 * Panna Nayak, ' 'Nisbat' '; Gujarati-language
 * Rajendra Kishore Panda, Anya, Cuttack: Friends Publishers, Oraya-language
 * Prathibha Nandakumar, Itanaka ("Until Now"), Bangalore: Kannada Sangha, Christ College; Kannada-language
 * Tulasibahadur Chetri, nicknamed "Apatan", Karna-Kunti; Nepali-language

Poland

 * StanisÅ‚aw BaraÅ„czak, Widokowka z tego swiata ("A Postcard from the Other World"), Paris: Zeszyty Literackie
 * Ryszard Krynicki, Niepodlegli nicosci (wybrane i poprawione wiersze i przekÅ‚ady) ("Independent Nothingness (Selected and Revised Poems and Translations)"); Warsaw: NOWA
 * Piotr Sommer, Czynnik liryczny i inne wiersze

Other languages

 * Mario Benedetti, Yesterday y manana ("Yesterday and Tomorrow"), Uruguay
 * Dieter Breuer, editor, Deutsche Lyrik nach 1945, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp (scholarship) West Germany
 * Christoph Buchwald, general editor, and Friederike Roth, guest editor, Luchterhand Jahrbuch der Lyrik 1988/89 ("Luchterhand Poetry Yearbook 1988/89"), publisher: Luchterhand; anthology; West Germany
 * Niels Frank, Genfortryllelsen, Denmark
 * Haim Gouri, Heshbon Over ("Current Account, Selected Poems"), Israeli writing in Hebrew
 * Klaus HÃ¸eck, Lukas O'Kech, publisher: BrÃ¸ndum; Denmark
 * Nuala NÃ­ Dhomhnaill, Selected Poems: Rogha Danta, Gaelic-language, Ireland
 * Rami Saari, Hinne, Matzati Et Beyti ("Behold, I Found My Home"), Israeli writing in Hebrew

Australia

 * C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Judith Beveridge, The Domesticity of Giraffes
 * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Judith Beveridge, The Domesticity of Giraffes
 * Mary Gilmore Prize: Judith Beveridge, The Domesticity of Giraffes

Canada

 * Gerald Lampert Award
 * Archibald Lampman Award
 * See 1988 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
 * Pat Lowther Award
 * Prix Alain-Grandbois

United Kingdom

 * Cholmondeley Award: John Heath-Stubbs, Sean O'Brien, John Whitworth
 * Eric Gregory Award: Michael Symmons Roberts, Gwyneth Lewis, Adrian Blackledge, Simon Armitage, Robert Crawford
 * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Derek Walcott

United States

 * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Maxine Scates, Toluca Street
 * Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: Richard Wilbur
 * Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: David Lehman, "Mythologies"
 * Frost Medal: Carolyn Kizer
 * Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress appointed: Howard Nemerov (also served 1963-64 in the same position, then named "Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress")
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: William Meredith: Partial Accounts: New and Selected Poems
 * Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize: Anthony Hecht
 * Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Donald Justice

Births

 * 19 June â€“ Sarah Kay, American poet

Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * January 3 – Rose AuslÃ¤nder, at 86 (born 1901)
 * February 3 – Robert Duncan, at 69 (born 1919), of a heart attack
 * March 30 – John Clellon Holmes, 62 (born 1926), of cancer
 * June 16 – Miguel Pinero, 41, of cirrhosis of the liver
 * October 1 – Sir Sacheverell Sitwell, 90


 * Also:
 * Leonie Fuller Adams
 * Henry Coulette
 * M. Govindan (born 1919), Indian, Malayalam-language poet
 * Premendra Mitra (born 1904) Bengali poet, novelist, short-story writer, including thrillers and science fiction
 * Mairtin O Direain (born 1910), Irish