Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry

Michael Simms has been active in politics and poetry for over 40 years as a writer, teacher, editor, and community activist. He is the founder of Autumn House Press, a nonprofit publisher of books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. He’s also the author of four collections of poetry and a college textbook about poetry — and the lead editor of over 100 published books. Simms has an MFA from the University of Iowa and a Certificate in Plant-based Nutrition from Cornell University. He lives with his wife, Eva, and their two children in the historic Mount Washington neighborhood overlooking the city of Pittsburgh.

"In his introduction to The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry, Michael Simms writes, ‘Poetry is just like people talking.’ He further explains the ways it goes beyond common speech, saying poetry, ‘has something special or amazing about it, something that makes us think, wonder, or marvel.’ It is this idea of everyday language, heightened and crafted to give the reader a sense of amazement, that defines the aesthetic choices made by editors Michael Simms, Giuliana Certo, and Christine Stroud as they curated this collection of poems by 110 American poets. The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry offers a snapshot of the poetry landscape at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. These poems contain contemporary poetry’s celebration of American life and language as well as its concerns about inclusion and varied voices." —Weave Magazine"Throughout this anthology, the reader is confronted with the familiar—family, work, illness, war—and by that special alchemy of language put under pressure, what we call poetry, the mundane is made extraordinary." —The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette