Today I just want to bring attention to the work of Baron Wormser, one of our finest poets.

I was talking to an otherwise literate friend the other day, and I mentioned Wormser’s work to him. Who? he said, which is evidence of a wrong worth righting. Wormser has been a “poet’s poet” for a long time, a remarkable and brave example of how to live the poet’s calling with integrity, intelligence, anger, tenderness, wholeness. Here is a site devoted to his work:

http://www.teachpoetry.com/

And this essay is a chapter of Wormser’s memoir The Road Washes Out in Spring:

http://www.bu.edu/agni/essays-reviews/print/2005/61-wormser.html

You can read several of Wormser’s “Carthage” poems here, along with the stunning and acerbic poem “The Torture Channel”:

http://www.nthposition.com/author.php?authid=493

And another “Carthage” poem can be read here, at The Manhatttan Review site:

http://www.themanhattanreview.com/archive/11-2_carthage.html

2 Comments

  1. Kurt Brown says:

    Richard, congratulations on the new blog! Put me down as a fan of Baron Wormer’s poetry. Definitely an under-recognized figure, and one whose work deserves to be more widely known. His recent books are available from Sarabande. I recommend them to anyone who cares about American poetry, and who admires work of the highest order. Keep up the good work! Kurt

  2. Kurt Brown says:

    “I never met anybody who said when they were a kid, “I wanna grow up and be a critic.” – Richard Pryor

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