Pulitzer Winner and Finalists
WinnerVersed by Rae Armantrout: Armantrout has been a part of the West Coast poetry scene for over 40 years (she graduated from UC-Berkeley in 1970, and one can assume that her interest started before that). Her work combines postmodern language poetry with a strong local eye. In Versed, her fourth book from Wesleyan University Press and her first to win a Pulitzer, she uses disparate images of Anna Nicole and kidney cancer to create a well-rounded and fascinating book.Read Online: “Scumble,” “Unbidden” (Poets.org)FinalistsTryst by Angie Estes: Estes was awarded a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship, and one hopes that she will get the official Pulitzer nod in the future. Tryst (Oberlin College Press) is only her fourth collection, written while teaching at Ashland University in Ohio and helping to edit the literary magazine The Journal. The collection’s cover shows a gilded, bejeweled beauty, and Estes’s poems have a similar sparkling, elegant quality to them.Read Online: “Sommersonnenwende” (Poems.com), “Gloss” (Poets.org)Inseminating the Elephant by Lucia Perillo: As one might tell from the title, Perillo is a poet who’s not afraid of surprising images. The animal imagery should be expected, however, given Perillo’s history as a member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She’s also put in time teaching at Saint Martin’s College and later Southern Illinois University. Inseminating the Elephant is her fifth book of poetry and her sixth overall.Read Online: “A Romance,” “Found Object” (Poetryfoundation.org)