Range of the Possible: Conversations with Contemporary Poets

By Tod Marshall and Cleo Qian

Book Overview

A collection of interviews with American poets by Tod Marshall.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0910055785
• ISBN13: 9780910055789
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Eastern Washington University Press
• Length: 392 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Inspirational and Informative

"Range of the Possible" is rich with information from and about twenty contemporary American poets from Kim Addonizio to Robert Wrigley. In separate interviews (which must have been wonderful to conduct and which have been very readably transcribed and edited), they discuss the poetry that has informed and influenced them, their views on the relationship between politics and poetry, and the future of poetry in America and in the world. Readers who already love poetry, and readers who want to know more about its role in contemporary America, will be pleased to learn what these poets have to say--that poetry of the highest caliber may console and guide those who will put their minds to it; that it is more variable in subject matter and in form than ever, and more successful; that the forces which work against poetry are not fatal, and can be defended against; and that the heart in, behind and through contemporary poetry (and poetry of all times) is the large heart of all of us. Every literate person should read this book, slowly in small doses at night before going to bed (for encouraging dreams and to motivate one's own poetic sensibility), or in great chunks of study time during the day (for a significant boost away from TV, advertising, and political drivel, and toward the light of literary advocacy). Then you'll want to read the poems of these men and women, and of those whose work they discuss at such length and with such intelligence. Tod Marshall has done a superb job of re-igniting faith in the power of poetry and poets to make us more finely and intelligently human.