Michael Wiegers – författare

When a parent is poet, the child becomes a muse—often wondrous, sometimes terrifying. This anthology explores the vast emotional landscape of parenting, from the serenity of innocent naps to the howling anguish of early deaths. Here are poetic mothers and fathers (and children), across cultures both ancient and modern, trying to make sense—and art—from the sublime mystery and relentless grind of living with children.

Never has there been a collection that so honestly speaks to the parents’ perspective, where moments of tenderness—such as a father abandoning "the most divinely inspired poem" to feed his son—have their counterpoints:

—a nursing mother-poet, who has not slept in 400 nights, going "gradually mad" or —a mother’s realization that her daughter would "drive nails into my tongue"

Remember those older friends we used to envy, brilliant and glittering with beauty, Who refused to have children, not about to sacrifice their careers; Who refused the mess, the entrapment, as we toiled over chores and homework, worried about measles and money— Have you seen them lately? They no longer converse in sparkling cadenzas. They are obsessed with their little dog who piddles on the Oriental rug, who throws up on the bedspread…

They way they caress him makes you fairly ill; the way they call him, "Baby." from "Children" by Carolyn Kizer

Michael Wiegers is the managing editor at Copper Canyon Press. His most recent anthology is Reversible Monuments: Contemporary Mexican Poetry (Copper Canyon, 2002), co-edited with Monica de la Torre.

Contributors Include: John Balaban Marvin Bell Kay Boyle Norman Dubie Susan Griffin Jim Harrison Ho Xuan Huong Rolf Jacobsen Richard Jones Carolyn Kizer Thomas McGrath W.S. Merwin Alberto Ríos Ann Stanford Su Tung-p’o T’ao Chien C.D. Wright

The inaugural volume in the Copper Canyon Press Back to Books Series

The centuries have changed little in this art, The subjects are still the same.—Kenneth Rexroth

Why poetry? What is poetry and why do people write it and read it? Why, as Dana Levin has written, "this urge to making a scrapbook of stars"?

Every poet, by accident or design, has responded to "Why poetry" by writing a poem about poetry (an ars poetica). Whether these poems focus on the personal, political, or philosophical, each recognizes that our world is more complicated than a direct statement.

As Marvin Bell has written, "Writing is all and everything." This anthology of poems about the art and life of poetry—which draws widely from Copper Canyon's 30-year backlist of poetry books—proves him right.

Poets write out of love and longing:

Lord, let me live / long enough to dare /a love poem —Cyrus Cassells

Poets confront suffering:

since we will always have a suffering world, we must also always have a song.—David Budbill

And poets write in order to live fully:

We all stumble into ourselves /like this, fitting our fingers to the shape of letters,/ while the page gallops out of our reach—Rebecca Seiferle

Only poetry lasts.—Ho Xuan Huong

Michael Wiegers is the Managing Editor at Copper Canyon Press.

CONTRIBUTORS Included: [box] Kay Boyle, Olga Broumas, Hayden Carruth, Norman Dubie, Han Shan, Jim Harrison, Carolyn Kizer, W.S. Merwin, Jane Miller, Kenneth Rexroth, Ruth Stone, Anna Swir

“Poets feed us. They look where there seems to be nothing to see, and they see.” 

 — Alberto Ríos

In times of joy and sorrow, celebration and confusion, people turn to poetry. Amid the initial uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the staff and interns of Copper Canyon Press created The World Has Need of You, a response to our community’s need for balm, for fuel, for a sense of connection.

Curated from our in-house catalogue of poems, this anthology is dedicated to our community of poets and readers with deep gratitude and awe: Your support and collaboration ensures that poetry will continue to flourish, bring comfort, and ignite change. We trust that, to weather any moment life brings, you will return to this collection to find the poets.

But they could sit you down

and tell you how poems are born in silence

and sometimes, in moments of great noise;

of how they arrive like the rain,

unexpectedly cracking open the sky.

 — Tishani Doshi, from “Find the Poets”

Copper Canyon Press celebrates its first 50 years of poetry publishing in anticipation of the next 50 years.

Poetry is vital to language and living. This anthology celebrates 50 years of Copper Canyon Press publications, one extraordinary poem at a time. Since its founding, Copper Canyon has been entirely dedicated to publishing poetry books; here Editor in Chief Michael Wiegers invites press staff and board—past and present—to help curate a retrospective. The result is a collection of beloved poems from books spanning half a century: representing Pulitzer Prize-winning books, debut collections, works in translation, and rare books from Copper Canyon’s early days. This book is a tribute to Copper Canyon poets and readers everywhere, because, as Gregory Orr writes, “Certain poems / In an uncertain world— / The ones we cling to: // They bring us back.”

Copper Canyon Press celebrates its first 50 years of poetry publishing in anticipation of the next 50 years.

Poetry is vital to language and living. This anthology celebrates 50 years of Copper Canyon Press publications, one extraordinary poem at a time. Since its founding, Copper Canyon has been entirely dedicated to publishing poetry books; here Editor in Chief Michael Wiegers invites press staff and board—past and present—to help curate a retrospective. The result is a collection of beloved poems from books spanning half a century: representing Pulitzer Prize-winning books, debut collections, works in translation, and rare books from Copper Canyon’s early days. This book is a tribute to Copper Canyon poets and readers everywhere, because, as Gregory Orr writes, “Certain poems / In an uncertain world— / The ones we cling to: // They bring us back.”

A compendium of stories about the importance of poems in people's lives, accumulating a remarkable history of Copper Canyon Press.

For its fiftieth anniversary, Copper Canyon Press invited a broad community of staffers, board members, and poets to help curate a celebratory anthology that it named A House Called Tomorrow. The response to that invitation, however, exceeded the book. The Press received so many stories about the poems, from people far and wide, that it knew it had to publish a second volume-this one.

Come Shining is both an oral (and visual) history of Copper Canyon Press and a lasting testament to the power of poetry within people's lives. If A House Called Tomorrow is the birthday cake, this is the birthday party: a joyous din of reminiscences, laughter, support, and yet more poems, all bound between two covers. Contributor stories are organized across thematic sections—such as "Personal Voltas" and “Stories for Our Tomorrow"—and are accompanied by a timeline of the Press, historic photos, and facsimiles of touching notes that Copper Canyon has received from readers and poets. The result is a remarkable account of a half-century of publishing, proof positive that poetry is, indeed, vital to language and living.

The Essential C.D. Wright gathers rare selections across the famed poet’s entire oeuvre—from the first book, Alla Breve Loving (1976), through to ShallCross, which was in production at the time of her unexpected death in 2016. Tracing a writing life that spans more than four decades, this essential collection illuminates works that remain empowered by an unrelenting independence, a reverence for mentors, and wry, wisecracking lyricism. A formally restless, energetic, uncompromising, and utterly unique voice, C.D. Wright introduced a contemporary audience to the promise and power of docupoetics, while pushing the musical boundaries of vernacular speech and reshaping American poetry. With a moving introduction by Forrest Gander, this volume cements C.D. Wright’s place in the literary canon.

The centuries have changed little in this art, The subjects are still the same.—Kenneth Rexroth

Why poetry? What is poetry and why do people write it and read it? Why, as Dana Levin has written, "this urge to making a scrapbook of stars"?

Every poet, by accident or design, has responded to "Why poetry" by writing a poem about poetry (an ars poetica). Whether these poems focus on the personal, political, or philosophical, each recognizes that our world is more complicated than a direct statement.

As Marvin Bell has written, "Writing is all and everything." This anthology of poems about the art and life of poetry—which draws widely from Copper Canyon’s 30-year backlist of poetry books—proves him right.

Poets write out of love and longing:

Lord, let me live / long enough to dare /a love poem —Cyrus Cassells

Poets confront suffering:

since we will always have a suffering world, we must also always have a song.—David Budbill

And poets write in order to live fully:

We all stumble into ourselves /like this, fitting our fingers to the shape of letters,/ while the page gallops out of our reach—Rebecca Seiferle

Only poetry lasts.—Ho Xuan Huong

Michael Wiegers is the Managing Editor at Copper Canyon Press.

CONTRIBUTORS Included: [box] Kay Boyle, Olga Broumas, Hayden Carruth, Norman Dubie, Han Shan, Jim Harrison, Carolyn Kizer, W.S. Merwin, Jane Miller, Kenneth Rexroth, Ruth Stone, Anna Swir

Copper Canyon Press celebrates its first 50 years of poetry publishing in anticipation of the next 50 years.

Poetry is vital to language and living. This anthology celebrates 50 years of Copper Canyon Press publications, one extraordinary poem at a time. Since its founding, Copper Canyon has been entirely dedicated to publishing poetry books; here Editor in Chief Michael Wiegers invites press staff and board—past and present—to help curate a retrospective. The result is a collection of beloved poems from books spanning half a century: representing Pulitzer Prize-winning books, debut collections, works in translation, and rare books from Copper Canyon’s early days. This book is a tribute to Copper Canyon poets and readers everywhere, because, as Gregory Orr writes, “Certain poems / In an uncertain world— / The ones we cling to: // They bring us back.”

A compendium of stories about the importance of poems in people’s lives, accumulating a remarkable history of Copper Canyon Press.

For its fiftieth anniversary, Copper Canyon Press invited a broad community of staffers, board members, and poets to help curate a celebratory anthology that it named A House Called Tomorrow. The response to that invitation, however, exceeded the book. The Press received so many stories about the poems, from people far and wide, that it knew it had to publish a second volume—this one. 

Come Shining is both an oral (and visual) history of Copper Canyon Press and a lasting testament to the power of poetry within people’s lives. If A House Called Tomorrow is the birthday cake, this is the birthday party: a joyous din of reminiscences, laughter, support, and yet more poems, all bound between two covers. Contributor stories are organized across thematic sections—such as “Personal Voltas” and “Stories for Our Tomorrow”—and are accompanied by a timeline of the Press, historic photos, and facsimiles of touching notes that Copper Canyon has received from readers and poets. The result is a remarkable account of a half-century of publishing, proof positive that poetry is, indeed, vital to language and living.

The Essential C.D. Wright gathers rare selections across the famed poet’s entire oeuvre—from the first book, Alla Breve Loving (1976), through to ShallCross, which was in production at the time of her unexpected death in 2016. Tracing a writing life that spans more than four decades, this essential collection illuminates works that remain empowered by an unrelenting independence, a reverence for mentors, and wry, wisecracking lyricism. A formally restless, energetic, uncompromising, and utterly unique voice, C.D. Wright introduced a contemporary audience to the promise and power of docupoetics, while pushing the musical boundaries of vernacular speech and reshaping American poetry. With a moving introduction by Forrest Gander, this volume cements C.D. Wright’s place in the literary canon.