2005 in poetry

Updated on Sep 30, 2024

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Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

Events

October 7 — Celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the first reading of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" were staged in San Francisco, New York City, and in Leeds in the UK. The British event, Howl for Now, was accompanied by a book of essays of the same name, edited by Simon Warner, reflecting on the piece's enduring power and influence.

Maurice Riordan, Irish poet living in London, named poetry editor of Poetry London

Works published in English

Listed by nation where the work was first published (and again by the poet's native land, if different); substantially revised works listed separately:

Australia

See also 2005 in Australian literature

David Brooks, Walking to Point Clear. Blackheath: Brandl & Schlesinger

Pam Brown, Ken Bolton, and Laurie Duggan, Let's Get Lost, Sydney: Vagabond

Laurie Duggan, Compared to What: Selected Poems 1971–2003, Exeter: Shearsman

Alan Gould, The Past Completes Me: Selected Poems 1973–2003

John Kinsella, The New Arcadia, winner of the 2006 Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award; W.W. Norton; Australian living in and published in the United States

Jennifer Maiden, Friendly Fire Giramondo, ISBN 1-920882-12-X

Chris Mansell, Mortifications & Lies (Kardoorair, Armidale) ISBN 0-908244-60-6

Les Murray:

Hell and After, Four early English-language poets of Australia, Carcanet

Editor, Best Australian Poems 2004, Melbourne, Black Inc.

Philip Salom, The Well Mouth, Fremantle Arts Centre, ISBN 978-1-921064-24-1

Jaya Savige, Latecomers

Chris Wallace-Crabbe, The Universe Looks Down, Brandl & Schlesinger, ISBN 1-876040-74-2

Canada

Shannon Bramer, The Refrigerator Memory (Coach House Books) ISBN 978-1-55245-154-0

Stephen Cain, American Standard/Canada Dry (Coach House Books) ISBN 978-1-55245-152-6

Margaret Christakos:

Sooner (Coach House Books) ISBN 978-1-55245-159-5

Retreat Diary (Toronto: Book Thug)

Brian Joseph Davis, Portable Altamont (Coach House Books) ISBN 978-1-55245-161-8

George Elliott Clarke, Illuminated Verses. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press, ISBN 1-55130-280-2

Anne Compton, Processional

Sylvia Legris, Nerve Squall, winner of 2006 Pat Lowther Award, winner of the 2006 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize, shortlisted for Saskatchewan Book Award (Coach House Books) ISBN 978-1-55245-160-1

Michael Palmer, Company of Moths, shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize (2006)

John Pass, Stumbling in the Bloom (ISBN 0-88982-201-8), Governor General's Award 2006.

James Reaney, 'Souwesto Home. Stan Dragland, ed. (Brick Books)

Sherwin Tija, The World is a Heartbreaker (Coach House Books), ISBN 978-1-55245-153-3

India, in English

Meena Alexander, editor, Indian Love Poems (poetry in English), Everyman's Library/Knopf, anthology, by an Indian writing living in and published in the United States

Dilip Chitre, Post Climactic Love Poem (poetry in English), a single, long poem; London and New Delhi: Aark Arts;

Jayanta Mahapatra, Random Descent( Poetry in English ), Third Eye Communications,

Jerry Pinto and Arundhathi Subramaniam, Confronting Love, contemporary Indian love poetry in English; Penguin India, ISBN 0-14-303264-X

K. Siva Reddy, Mohana! Oh Mohana! and Other Poems, translated from the original Telugu by M. Sridhar and Alladi Uma, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, ISBN 81-260-2162-4.

Melanie Silgardo and Eunice de Souza, editors, The Puffin Book of Poetry for Children, New Delhi: Puffin Books, ISBN 0-14-333596-0

Eunice de Souza, editor, Early Indian Poetry in English: An Anthology: 1829–1947, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-565616-4.

Arundhathi Subramaniam, Where I Live, Mumbai: Allied, ISBN 81-7764-738-5; Indian, English-language

Arundhathi Subramaniam, co-editor, Confronting Love, Delhi: Penguin India, ISBN 0-14-303264-X; an anthology of contemporary love poetry

Ireland

Sara Berkeley, Strawberry Thief, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, ISBN 978-1-85235-389-6

Ciaran Carson (translator), The Midnight Court (Cúirt An Mhéan Oíche), an 18th-century poem by Brian Merriman, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, ISBN 978-1-85235-386-5

Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin:

Verbale by Michele Ranchetti, translated by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and others, Dublin: Instituto Italiano di Cultura

After the Raising of Lazarus: Poems Translated from the Romanian by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, poems by Ileana Malancioiu, Cork: Southword Editions

Seán Dunne, Collected, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, ISBN 978-1-85235-395-7

Thomas McCarthy, Merchant Prince, Anvil Press, London, Irish work published in the United Kingdom

Immanuel Mifsud, translated by Maurice Riordan, Confidential Reports, Maltese poet published in Ireland, Southword Editions

Justin Quinn, American Errancy: Empire, Sublimity and Modern Poetry, University College of Dublin Press (scholarship)

Gabriel Rosenstock, I Met A Man ... Doghouse Books, ISBN 0-9546487-9-X

New Zealand

Raewyn Alexander:

It's a Secret: Selected Poems (Auckland: Brightsparkbooks)

Writing Poetry: Fireworks, Clay & Architecture (Auckland: Brightsparkbooks)

Stu Bagby, As it was in the beginning (Steele Roberts Publications Ltd)

Wystan Curnow, Modern Colours (Jack Books)

Stephanie de Montalk, Cover Stories (Victoria University Press)

Anne Kennedy, Time of the Giants (Auckland University Press)

Michele Leggott, Milk & Honey, Auckland: Auckland University Press

Bill Manhire, Lifted, New Zealand

Cilla McQueen, Fire-penny, Otago University Press

Karlo Mila, Dream Fish Floating (Huia Publishers)

James Norcliffe, Along Blueskin Road (Canterbury University Press)

Gregory O'Brien, Afternoon of An Evening Train (Victoria University Press)

Vivienne Plumb, Scarab: A Poetic Documentary (Seraph Press)

Anna Smaill, The Violinist in Spring (Victoria University Press)

Robert Sullivan, Voice Carried My Family (Auckland University Press)

Ian Wedde, Three Regrets and a Hymn to Beauty (Auckland University Press)

Poets in Best New Zealand Poems

Poems from these 25 poets, selected by Emma Neale were included in Best New Zealand Poems 2004, published online this year:

United Kingdom

Carol Ann Duffy:

Another Night Before Christmas (illustrated by Marc Boutavant), John Murray (children's poetry).

Rapture, Picador

John Heath-Stubbs, Pigs Might Fly

Jackie Kay, Life Mask

Tim Kendall, Strange Land

José Letria The Moon Has Written You a Poem, children's poetry translated and adapted by Irish expatriate poet Maurice Riordan from the original Portuguese and published in the UK, WingedChariot Press, Tunbridge Wells, Kent

Derek Mahon, Harbour Lights. Gallery Press

Thomas McCarthy, Merchant Prince, London; Anvil Press, Irish work published in the United Kingdom

Brian Merriman: The Midnight Court (translation by Ciarán Carson of Cúirt an Mhéan Oíche), Gallery Press; Wake Forest University Press, 2006, posthumous

Pete Morgan, August Light ISBN 1-904614-23-X

Alice Oswald, Woods etc., Faber and Faber, ISBN 0-571-21852-0

Anthologies in the United Kingdom

Alice Oswald, The Thunder Mutters: 101 Poems for the Planet (editor), Faber and Faber, ISBN 0-571-21854-7

Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Kadija Sesay, Dance the Guns to Silence: 100 Poems for Ken Saro-Wiwa (flipped eye), anthology with a foreword by Saro-Wiwa's son, Ken Wiwa, including poems by Mutabaruka, Sharan Strange, Chris Abani, Jayne Cortez, Kwame Dawes, Amiri Baraka, Kamau Braithwaite; and poems in Catalan, Scots, Creole, Castilian paying tribute to Khana, Saro-Wiwa's mother tongue.

Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United Kingdom

Elaine Feinstein, Anna of all the Russias: A life of Anna Akhmatova, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005 (ISBN 0-297-64309-6); N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006 (ISBN 1-4000-4089-2)

United States

Elizabeth Alexander, American Sublime

Meena Alexander, editor, Indian Love Poems, Everyman's Library/Knopf, anthology, by an Indian writing living in and published in the United States

John Ashbery, Where Shall I Wander

Bei Dao, Midnight's Gate translation by Matthew Fryslie, edited by Christopher Mattison (New Directions), ISBN 0-8112-1584-9

Ted Berrigan, Collected Poems (University of California Press), edited by his widow Alice Notley and sons Anselm and Edmund Berrigan, posthumous

Frank Bidart, Star Dust, one of the New York Times "100 Notable Books of the Year"

Oscar Brown Jr., What It Is: Poems and Opinions of Oscar Brown Jr. (Oyster Knife Publishing)

Charles Bukowski, The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain: New Poems (Ecco)

Ana Castillo, Watercolor Women/Opaque Men in Verse (Curbstone Press)

Adrian Castro, Wise Fish: Tales in 6/8 Time (Coffee House Press)

Dan Chiasson, Natural History: Poems, one of the New York Times "100 Notable books of the year"

Henri Cole, Vingt-Deux Poèmes(Yvon Lambert, Paris)

Billy Collins, The Trouble With Poetry and Other Poems (ISBN 0-375-50382-X)

Mark Doty, School of the Arts, HarperCollins

Forrest Gander, Eye Against Eye (New Directions)

Jorie Graham, Overlord: Poems, one of the New York Times "100 Notable books of the year"

Suheir Hammad, ZaatarDiva

Allison Hedge Coke, Off-Season City Pipe Coffee House Press

Michael Hofmann, translator, Ashes for Breakfast: Selected Poems by Durs Grünbein, German, Macmillan/Farrar, Straus and Giroux

John Hollander, editor, Poems Bewitched and Haunted

Paul Hoover, Poems in Spanish (Omnidawn Publishing)

June Jordan, Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan (Copper Canyon Press), posthumous

Ted Kooser, Delights and Shadows (Copper Canyon Press)

Stanley Kunitz, The Collected Poems (W. W. Norton)

Laurie Lamon, The Fork Without Hunger, CavanKerry Press

James McMichael, Capacity, a book-length poem and finalist for the 2006 National Book Award for Poetry

W. S. Merwin:

Migration: New and Selected Poems, awarded the National Book Award for Poetry this year; Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press

Present Company, Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press

Translator: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a New Verse Translation, New York: Knopf

W. K. Lawrence, State of Love and Trust

David Lehman, editor, Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present (Scribner), an anthology

William Logan, The Whispering Gallery

Richard Loranger, Poems for Teeth (We Press)

Claire Lux and John Most, Atelier (AQP Collective)

W. S. Merwin, Migration: New and Selected Poems, one of the New York Times "100 Notable books of the year"

Ange Mlinko, Starred Wire (Coffee House Press, 2005), winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series

Rusty Morrison, Whethering, University Press of Colorado, January, ISBN 978-1-885635-07-5

Sharon Olds, Strike Sparks: Selected Poems, 1980–2002 (Knopf)

Jason Shinder, editor, The Poem That Changed America: "Howl" Fifty Years Later, essays on the impact of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" on American literature and culture; Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Patti Smith, Auguries of Innocence

Tony Tost, World Jelly

Brian Turner, Here, Bullet (Alice James Books), war poetry

Richard Wilbur, Collected Poems, 1943–2004 (Harvest Books), one of the New York Times "100 Notable books of the year"

Marvin X, Land of My Daughters: Poems 1995–2005 (Black Bird Press)

Jesse Lee Kercheval, Chartreuse (Hollyridge Press)

Poets whose works appeared in The Best American Poetry 2005

The 75 poets included in The Best American Poetry 2005, edited by David Lehman, co-edited this year by Paul Muldoon:

Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States

Anthony Holden, The Wit in the Dungeon: The Remarkable Life of Leigh Hunt — Poet, Revolutionary, and the Last of the Romantics

Brazil

Ricardo Domeneck, Carta aos anfíbios, Rio de Janeiro: Bem-Te-Vi

Miguel Sanches Neto, Venho de um país obscuro e outros poemas

Marco Vasques, Sístole, Rio de Janeiro: Bem-Te-Vi

Chile

Sergio Badilla Castillo, Transrealistic Poems and Some Gospels. 2005. Aura Latina. Santiago/Stockholm.

India

Listed in alphabetical order by first name:

Anamika, Khurduri Hatheliyan, Delhi: Radhakrishna Prakashan; Hindi-language

Basudev Sunani, Karadi Haata, Nuapada: Eeshan-Ankit Prakashani; Oraya-language

Debashis Chanda, editor, Visual Rhapsody, an anthology including poems by Mithu Sen, New Delhi: Niyogi Offset; Bengali-language

K. Satchidanandan, Ghazalukal, Geetangal ("Ghazals and Geets"); Malayalam-language

K. Siva Reddy, Atanu-Charitra, Hyderabad: Jhari Poetry Circle; Telugu-language

Mallika Sengupta, Shreshtha Kabita, Dey's Publishers; Bengali-language

Namdeo Dhasal, Mee Marale Sooryachya Rathache Ghode Saat, Marathi-language

S. Joseph, Identity Card, Kottayam: DC Books, ISBN 81-264-1125-2; Malayalam-language

Tarannum Riyaz, Purani Kitabon ki Khushboo, New Delhi: Modern Publishing House; Urdu-language

Udaya Narayana Singh, Madhyampurush Ekvachan, New Delhi: Vani Prakashan; Maithili-language

Bangladesh

Rahman Henry, Tomake Basona Kori, A Book of Poetry in Bengali, BALAKA, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Rahman Henry, Khunjhara Nodi ("The River that Bleeds"), A Book of Poetry in Bengali, BALAKA, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Poland

Tomasz Różycki, translator, Rzut kośćmi nigdy nie zniesie przypadku, translated from the original French of Stéphane Mallarmé, Kraków: Korporacja Ha!Art

Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki, Dzieje rodzin polskich

Adam Zagajewski, Anteny, Kraków: a5

Wisława Szymborska, Dwukropek ("Colon")

Other languages

Nicole Brossard, editor, Anthologie: De la poésie des femmes au Québec des origines à nos jours, Rémue-Ménage, France

Dmitry Bykov, Boris Pasternak, published by Molodaya Gvardiya, received the "National Bestseller Prize", biography, Russia

Abdellatif Laabi, Écris la vie, La Différence, coll. Clepsydre, Paris, Prix Alain Bosquet 2006, Moroccan author writing in French and published in France

Pavel Nastin, Yazyk Zhestov ("Sign Language"); Russia

Rami Saari, Ha-shogun Ha-xamishi ("The Fifth Shogun"), Israel