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 takes written questions from the audience, he reads out two responses: "All of you are Jews or sold out to Jews", one reads. Another only says, "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 reads the notes out loud and challenges the writers to identify themselves. None does.[1]

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

Louis Dudek, Infinite Worlds: The Poetry of Louis Dudek. Robin Blaser ed. Montreal: Véhicule Press.[2]
Elisabeth Harvor, If Only We Could Drive Like This Forever
Dorothy Livesay, Beginnings. Winnipeg: Peguis.[3]
Roy Miki, Tracing the Paths, about bp nichol, critical study;
Raymond Souster, Asking for More. Ottawa: Oberon Press.[4]

India, in English

Jayanta Mahapatra, Burden and Fruit ( Poetry in English ), Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press[5]
Eunice de Souza, Women in Dutch Painting, Bombay: XAL-PRAXIS[6]
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[7]
Sujata Bhatt, Brunizem ( Poetry in English ),Carcanet Press and New Delhi: Penguin; won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Asia) and the Alice Hunt Bartlett Award[8]
Robin Ngangom, Words and the Silence ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop[9]

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,[10] 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"[11]
Thomas Kinsella:
- Blood and Family, including "The Messenger" and "Out of Ireland"[11]
- One Fond Embrace: Peppercanister 13[11]
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[10] 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)[12]
Jenny Bornholdt, This Big Face
Allen Curnow, Continuum: New and Later Poems 1972–1988[13]
Lauris Edmond, Summer Near the Arctic Circle[14]
Michele Leggott, Like This?: Poems, Christchurch: Caxton Press, New Zealand
Cilla McQueen, Benzina[15] 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[16]

United Kingdom

Fleur Adcock, Meeting the Comet, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963)[12]
Patricia Beer, Collected Poems[10]
Alison Brackenbury, Christmas Roses[10]
Ciarán Carson: The New Estate and Other Poems, Gallery Press, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
Charles Causley, A Field of Vision[10]
Jack Clemo, Selected Poems[10]
Wendy Cope:
- Does She Like Word-Games?[10]
- Men and their Boring Arguments[10]
Helen Dunmore, The Raw Garden[10]
Douglas Dunn, Northlight[10]
Paul Durcan, Jesus and Angela,[10] Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
Elaine Feinstein, Mother's Girl: Hutchinson
David Gascoyne, Collected Poems[10]
Lee Harwood, Crossing the frozen river: selected poems
Ian Hamilton, Fifty Poems[10]
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[10]
Libby Houston, Necessity[10]
Ted Hughes, Moon-Whales, first British edition; published originally in the United States, 1976[10]
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[10]
Philip Larkin, Collected Poems, edited by Anthony Thwaite; posthumously published
George MacBeth, Anatomy of a Divorce[10]
Norman MacCaig, Voice-Over[10]
Medbh McGuckian, On Ballycastle Beach[10] Northern Ireland poet published in the United Kingdom
Edwin Morgan, Themes on a Variation[10]
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[10]
Kathleen Raine, To the Sun[10]
Peter Reading, Final Demands[10]
Jeremy Reed, Engaging Form[10]
Carol Rumens, The Greening of the Snow Beach[10]
E. J. Scovell, Collected Poems[10]
Peter Scupham, The Air Show[10]
Jo Shapcott, Electroplating the Baby[10]
Lemn Sissay, Tender Fingers in a Clenched Fist
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[7]
Ted Berrigan, A Certain Slant of Sunlight
Joseph Brodsky: To Urania : Selected Poems, 1965-1985, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux[17] 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 García Lorca, Poeta en Nueva York first translation into English as "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[18]
- Selected Poems, New York: Atheneum[18]
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:

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[19]
Breyten Breytenbach, Judas Eye: 63 prison poems of an indefinite colour, South African
Jayanta Mahapatra, Burden of Waves & Fruit, India[20]

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, Comité ("Committee"), a book attacking French publishers for using poets they rarely publish themselves to help determine which books of poetry to accept; France[21]
Abdellatif Laabi, translator, Je t'aime au gré de la mort, translated from the original Arabic of Samih al-Qâsim into French; Paris: Unesco/Éditions de Minuit
Jean Royer, Poèmes d'amour, 1966-1986, Montréal: l'Hexagone; Canada[22]

India

Listed in alphabetical order by first name:

Debarati Mitra, Bhutera O Khuki, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers; Bengali-language[23]
K. Satchidanandan, Veedumattam, ("Changing House"); Malayalam-language[24]
K. Siva Reddy, Mohana! Oh Mohana!, Hyderabad: Jhari Poetry Circle, Telugu-language[25]
Kedarnath Singh, Akal Mein Saras, Delhi: Rajkamal Prakashan; Hindi[26]
Mallika Sengupta, Ami Sindhur Meye, Kolkata: Prativas Publication; Bengali-language[27]
Nitin Mehta, Nirvan, Ahmedabad: Chandramauli Prakashan; Gujarati-language[28]
Panna Nayak, ' 'Nisbat' '; Gujarati-language[29]
Rajendra Kishore Panda, Anya, Cuttack: Friends Publishers, Oraya-language[30]
Prathibha Nandakumar, Itanaka ("Until Now"), Bangalore: Kannada Sangha, Christ College; Kannada-language[31]
Tulasibahadur Chetri, nicknamed "Apatan", Karna-Kunti; Nepali-language[32]

Poland

Stanisław Barańczak, Widokowka z tego swiata ("A Postcard from the Other World"), Paris: Zeszyty Literackie[33]
Ryszard Krynicki, Niepodlegli nicości (wybrane i poprawione wiersze i przekłady) ("Independent Nothingness (Selected and Revised Poems and Translations)"); Warsaw: NOWA[34]
Piotr Sommer, Czynnik liryczny i inne wiersze[35]

Spanish Language Poetry

Mario Benedetti, Yesterday y mañana ("Yesterday and Tomorrow"), Uruguay[36]
Giannina Braschi, El imperio de los sueños ("Empire of Dreams"), Puerto Rican writer published in Spain (Barcelona)[36]
Justo Jorge Padrón
- Antología poética, 1971-1988
- Los dones de la tierra
Isabel Sabogal, „Requiebros vanos”, Lima

Other languages

Gösta Ågren, Jär ("Here"), Swedish-language, Finland
"Biblioteca de autores contemporaneos / Mario Benedetti - El autor" (in Spanish), retrieved May 27, 2009. Archived 2009-05-30.
Dieter Breuer, editor, Deutsche Lyrik nach 1945, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp (scholarship) West Germany[37]
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[38]
Niels Frank, Genfortryllelsen, Denmark[39]
Haim Gouri, Heshbon Over ("Current Account, Selected Poems"), Israeli writing in Hebrew[40]
Klaus Høeck, Lukas O'Kech, publisher: Brøndum; Denmark[41]
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Selected Poems: Rogha Danta, Gaelic-language, Ireland[11]
Rami Saari, Hinne, Matzati Et Beyti ("Behold, I Found My Home"), Israeli writing in Hebrew[42]

Awards and honors