Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
March 4 — Ronald Reagan, President of the United States, publicly recites from memory lines from Robert W. Service's The Cremation of Sam McGee (1907)
December 18 — Pforzheimer Collection of the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley and his circle donated to the New York Public Library
John Montague becomes the first occupant of the Ireland Chair of Poetry
Dissident Russian poet Dmitri Prigov is arrested by the K.G.B for distributing his samizdat poetry and briefly confined in a psychiatric hospital before being freed after protests by other poets such as Bella Akhmadulina
New American Writing, an annual literary magazine concentrating on poetry, is founded in Chicago
English poet Wendy Cope's Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis is a best-seller
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Don Domanski, Hammerstroke Canada
Louis Dudek, Zembla´s Rocks. Montreal: Véhicule Press, 1986.
Archibald Lampman, The Story of an Affinity, D.M.R. Bentley ed. (London, ON: Canadian Poetry Press). ISBN 978-0-921243-00-7
Irving Layton, Dance With Desire: Love Poems. Toronto:McClelland & Stewart.
Dennis Lee, editor, The New Canadian Poets (anthology)
Dorothy Livesay, The Self-Completing Tree: Selected Poems. Victoria: Porcepic.
Gwendolyn MacEwen, The Man with Three Violins. HMS Press (Toronto) ISBN 0-919957-83-8
Anne Marriott, Letters from Some Island: New Poems, Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press.
Michael Ondaatje:
All along the Mazinaw: Two Poems (broadside), Canadian published in the United States; Milwaukie: Woodland Pattern
Two Poems, Woodland Pattern, Milwaukie
Raymond Souster, It Takes All Kinds. Ottawa: Oberon Press,
Wilfred Watson, Collected Poems (introduction by Thomas Peacocke)
Jayanta Mahapatra, Dispossessed Nests ( Poetry in English ), Jaipur: Nirala Publications
Vikram Seth, The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse
Suniti Namjoshi, Flesh and Paper, (with Gillian Hanscombe), Jezebel Tapes and Books, Devon, ISBN 1-870240-00-6 and Ragweed, ISBN 0-920304-64-8
V. K. Gokak, editor, The Golden Treasury of Indo-Anglian Poetry, New Delhi: Sahitya Academy; anthology
Niranjan Mohanty, editor, The Golden Voices: Poets from Orissa Writing in English, Berhampur University: Poetry Publications; anthology
Ireland
Eavan Boland, The Journey, and Other Poems, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
Dermot Bolger, Internal Exiles
Seamus Heaney, Clearances, Cornamona Press, Northern Irish native at this time living in the United States
Alan Moore (poet) Opia, Anvil Press Poetry, ISBN 0-85646-161-X, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
Paul Muldoon, Selected Poems 1968–1983, including "Lunch with Pancho Villa", "Cuba", "Anseo", "Gathering Mushrooms", "The More a Man Has the More a Man Wants", Faber and Faber, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin: The Second Voyage, Dublin: The Gallery Press
Frank Ormsby, A Northern Spring, including "Home", Oldcastle: The Gallery Press
James Simmons, Poems 1956–1986, including "One of the Boys", "West Strand Visions" and "From the Irish", Oldcastle: The Gallery Press
New Zealand
Fleur Adcock (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963):
Hotspur: a ballad, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963)
The Incident Book, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
Alan Brunton, New Order, New York:Red Mole, work by a New Zealand poet in the United States
Allen Curnow, The Loop in Lone Kauri Road: Poems 1983–1985
Lauris Edmond, Seasons and Creatures
Cilla McQueen, Wild Sweets
Les Murray, editor, Anthology of Australian Religious Poetry, Melbourne, Collins Dove (new edition, 1991)
Norman Simms, Silence and Invisibility: A Study of the New Literature from the Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand, scholarship
Dannie Abse, Ask the Bloody Horse
Fleur Adcock (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963):
The Incident Book, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
Selected Poems, Oxford and New York : Oxford University Press
Eavan Boland, The Journey, and Other Poems, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
Charles Causley, Early in the Morning
Jack Clemo, A Different Drummer
Tony Connor, Spirits of Place
Wendy Cope, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis
Kevin Crossley-Holland, Waterslain
Carol Ann Duffy, Thrown Voices
Helen Dunmore, The Sea Skater
Elaine Feinstein, Badlands, Hutchinson
Roy Fuller, Outside the Canon
Seamus Heaney: Clearances, Cornamona Press, Northern Ireland native at this time living in the United States
Adrian Henri, Collected Poems
Ted Hughes, Flowers and Insects
George MacBeth, The Cleaver Garden
Edwin Morgan, From the Video Box
Grace Nichols, Whole of a Morning Sky
Fiona Pitt-Kethley, Sky Ray Lolly
Peter Reading, Stet
E. J. Scovell, Listening to Collared Doves
Penelope Shuttle, The Lion From Rio
Jon Silkin, The Ship's Pasture
John Stallworthy, The Anzac Sonata
R.S. Thomas, Experimenting with an Amen
Abdullah al-Udhari, editor and translator, Modern Poetry of the Arab World, Penguin, anthology
A.R. Ammons, The Selected Poems: Expanded Edition
Ralph Angel, Anxious Latitudes
Gwendolyn Brooks, The Near-Johannesburg Boy and Other Poems
Alan Brunton, New Order, New York:Red Mole, work by a New Zealand poet in the United States
Raymond Carver, Ultramarine
Henri Cole, The Marble Queen
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Over All the Obscene Boundaries
Alice Fulton, Palladium
Marilyn Hacker, Love, Death and the Changing of the Seasons
Seamus Heaney: Clearances, Cornamona Press, Northern Ireland native at this time living in the United States
John Hollander, In Time and Place
Paul Hoover, Nervous Songs, (L'Epervier Press)
Jane Kenyon, The Boat of Quiet Hours
Li-Young Lee, Rose
Mary Oliver, Dream Work
Michael Ondaatje:
All along the Mazinaw: Two Poems (broadside), Canadian published in the United States; Milwaukie: Woodland Pattern
Two Poems, Woodland Pattern, Milwaukie
Carl Rakosi, Collected Poems published by the National Poetry Foundation
Vikram Seth, The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse
Rosmarie Waldrop, Streets Enough to Welcome Snow (Station Hill)
Philip Dacey and David Jauss, editors of the New Formalist anthology, Strong Measures: Contemporary American Poetry in Traditional Forms
Ron Silliman, editor, In the American Tree, anthology of Language poets
Paula Burnett, Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse, anthology
Derek Walcott, Collected Poems, St. Lucia native living in the United States
Jørgen Gustava Brandt, Giv dagen dit lys ("Give the Day Your Light")
Niels Frank, Digte i kim, Denmark
Christian Graugaard, Kan jeg købe dine øjnes blå dans ("Can I Buy Your Eyes Blue Dance")
Kama Sywor Kamanda, Chants de brumes, Congo native writing in French
Abdellatif Laabi, L'Écorché vif. L'Harmattan, Paris, Moroccan author writing in and published in France
Jean Royer, Le chemin brûlé, Montréal: l'Hexagone; Canada
Marie Uguay, Poèmes (contains Signe et rumeur, L'Outre-vie, and Autoportraits) French-Canada (posthumously published)
Listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Nirendranath Chakravarti, Jabotiyo Bhalobashabashi, Kolkata: Proma Prokashoni; Bengali-language
Rajendra Bhandari, Yee shabdaharu: yee harafharu ("These Words: These Lines"), Gangtok, Sikkim: Jana Paksha Prakashan; Nepali-language
Sitanshu Yashaschandra, Jatayu, Mumbai and Ahmedabad: R R Sheth & Co.; Gujarati-language
Namdeo Dhasal, Gandu Bagicha Marathi-language
Varavara Rao (better known as "VV"), Bhavishyathu Chitrapatam or Bhavishyattu Chitrapatam ("Portrait of the Future"), Vijayawada: Vijayakrishna Printers; Telugu-language
Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi, Naram garam hawain (The soft Warm Air) - published posthumously by R.K.Sehgal, Bazm-e-Seemab, J 5/21, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi.
Poland
Stanisław Barańczak, Atlantyda i inne wiersze z lat 1981-85 ("Atlantis and Other Poems"), London: Puls
Juliusz Erazm Bolek, Nago
Ernest Bryll, Adwent ("Advent"), London
Ewa Lipska, Utwory wybrane ("Selected Work"), Kraków: Wydawnictwo literackie
Bronisław Maj:
Album rodzinny ("Family Album"); Cracow: Oficyna Literacka
Zaglada świętego miasta ("Destruction of the Holy City"); London: Puls
Zmęczenie ("Fatigue"); Cracow: Znak
Piotr Sommer, Czynnik liryczny
Jan Twardowski, Nie przyszedłem pana nawracać. Wiersze z lat 1937- 1985 ("I Did Not Come to Convert You: Poems From the Years 1937-1985"), Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Archidiecezji Warszawskiej
Mario Benedetti, Preguntas al azar ("Random Questions"), Uruguay
Christoph Buchwald, general editor, and Elke Erb, guest editor, Luchterhand Jahrbuch der Lyrik 1986 ("Luchterhand Poetry Yearbook 1986"), publisher: Luchterhand Literaturverlag; anthology
Matilde Camus, Sin teclado de fiebre ("Without a fever keyboard"), Spain
Osman Durrani, editor, German Poetry of the Romantic Era (with poetry in German), anthology, Leamington Spa, England: Oswald, Wolf and Berg (publisher)
Nizar Qabbani, Poems Inciting Anger, Syrian poet writing in Arabic
Maria Luisa Spaziani, La stella del libero arbitrio, Italy
Wisława Szymborska: Ludzie na moście ("People on the Bridge"), Poland
Andrei Voznesensky, The Ditch: A Spiritual Trial, prose and poetry primarily about a 1941 German massacre of 12,000 Russians in the Crimea and the looting of their mass graves in the 1980s by Soviet citizens. Addressing a topic long suppressed by the Soviet government, the work made clear that most of the victims were Jews, and it implied this was why Soviet authorities tolerated the grave robbing. Russian-language work published in the Soviet Union.
Wang Xiaoni, Wode shixuan ("My Selected Poems"), China
C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Rhyll McMaster, Washing the Money and John A. Scott, St. Clair
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Robert Gray Selected Poems 1963-83
Mary Gilmore Prize: Stephen Williams - A Crowd of Voices
Gerald Lampert Award
Archibald Lampman Award
See 1986 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Pat Lowther Award
Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize - Poetry Hotel, Joe Rosenblatt
Cholmondeley Award: Lawrence Durrell, James Fenton, Selima Hill
Eric Gregory Award: Mick North, Lachlan Mackinnon, Oliver Reynolds, Stephen Romer
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Norman MacCaig
Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Robley Wilson, Kingdoms of the Ordinary
AML Award for poetry to Dennis Marden Clark for "Sunwatch"
Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: John Koethe, "Mistral"
Frost Medal: Allen Ginsberg / Richard Eberhart
Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress appointed: Robert Penn Warren
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Henry Taylor, The Flying Change
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize: Adrienne Rich
Whiting Awards: John Ash, Hayden Carruth, Frank Stewart, Ruth Stone
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Irving Feldman and Howard Moss
Fateme Ekhtesari, Persian poet and midwife
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 4 – Christopher Isherwood (born 1904), English-born American novelist and poet
January 9 – W. S. Graham (born 1918), Scottish poet
January 12 – Bob Kaufman, at 60 (born 1925), American Beat poet, of emphysema
March 4 – Elizabeth Smart, at 72 (born 1913), Canadian poet and novelist
March 8 – Kersti Merilaas, at 72 (born 1913), Estonian poet, translator and author of children's fiction
March 30 – John Ciardi, at 69 (born 1916), American poet, translator, and etymologist, of a heart attack
April 15 – Jean Genet, at 75 (born 1910), French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist and political activist
April 21 – Salah Jahin, also spelled "Salah Jaheen" صلاح جاهين (born 1930), Egyptian, Arabic-language poet, lyricist, playwright and cartoonist
June 24 – Rex Warner (born 1905), English classicist, author, poet and translator
July 13 – Brion Gysin, at 70 (born 1916), English painter, writer, sound poet, and performance artist
August 19 – Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi, at 73 (born 1913), Urdu poet, essayist, critic, biographer
August 20 – Milton Acorn, at 63 (born 1923), Canadian poet, writer, and playwright, of heart disease and diabetes
August 31 – Elizabeth Coatsworth, at 93 (born 1893), American author of children's fiction and poetry
November 10 – Laurence Collinson (born 1925), Australian playwright, actor, poet, journalist and secondary school teacher, in London
December 8 – Henry Reed, at 72 (born 1914), English poet, translator, radio playwright and journalist
Also:
Atul Chandra Hazarika (born 1903), Indian, writing in Assamese; poet, dramatist, children's story writer and translator; called "Sahitycharjya" by an Assamese literary society
Audrey Longbottom (born c. 1922), Australian
