In honor of National Poetry Month, New York Magazine pitted the poetry and ideas of Juan Felipe Herrera (“Half the World in Light: New and Selected Poems”) against August Kleinzahler (“Sleeping It Off in Rapid City: Poems”).
Both poets were finalists at the National Book Critics Circle Awards, winning the first shared poetry award in the prestigious prize’s history. If you need more, GalleyCat held this video interview Herrera after the awards ceremony.
Here’s a Kleinzahler quote from the article: “What little of real originality is out there is drowning in the waste products spewing from graduate writing programs like the hog farm waste that recently overflowed its holding tanks in the wake of Hurricane Isabel, fouling the Carolina countryside and poisoning everything in its path.” (Via FSG Poetry Blog)