Outside the Lines: Talking with Contemporary Gay Poets - Softcover

"Michigan is known for its Poets on Poetry series, which collects the prose statements, interviews and poetry-related ephemera of individual contemporary poets; this anthology of frank interviews fits nicely alongside it. . . . As an interlocutor, Hennessy is . . . deeply informed, with an ability to register the hotter material without comment." ---"Publishers Weekly"

This is the first book to collect the voices of our foremost and emerging gay poets. ""Outside the Lines"" gathers interviews with some of the most significant figures in contemporary American poetry. While each poet is gay, these encompassing, craft-centered interviews reflect the diversity of their respective arts and serve as a testament to the impact gay poets have had and will continue to have on contemporary poetics. The book includes twelve frank, intense interviews with some of America's best-known and loved poets, who have not only enjoyed wide critical acclaim but who have had lasting impact on both the gay tradition as well as the contemporary canon writ large, for example, the late Thom Gunn, J.D. McClatchy, and Frank Bidart. Some of the most honored and respected poets, still in the middle of their careers, are also included, for example, Mark Doty, Reginald Shepherd, and Carl Phillips. Each interview explores the poet's complete work to date, often illuminating the poet's technical evolution, emotional growth, probing shifts in theme, and even investigating links between verse and sexuality. In addition to a selected bibliography of works by established poets, the book also includes a list of works by newer and emerging poets who are well on their way to becoming important voices of the new millennium.