| From
the May/June 2005 issue of The Horn Book Magazine
Editorial
One at a Time
 n his review of Camille Paglia’s new critical anthology of
poetry, Break, Blow, Burn, Clive James (echoing David McCord)
writes, “Good poems are written one at a time: written that
way and read that way.” We’re pleased in this special
poets-and-poetry issue of the Horn Book to publish eighteen
new poems solicited from some of our favorite poets. The poems have
no governing theme. You have no choice but to read them one at a
time, I think, but take them in any order you desire, then read
the ones you really like again—to my mind, the foremost virtue
and pleasure of poetry.
In between the poems you’ll find plenty of
critical exposition to deepen your appreciation. Naomi Shihab Nye’s
opening essay makes me want to read poetry all day; Deirdre Baker
shows that by putting ourselves in the hands of the right novelists,
we can. And when our eyes tire, we can still listen, guided by Kristi
Jemtegaard’s sharp-eared recommendations for poetry recordings.
Susan Lempke will make you grateful that our eighteen poems aren’t
all about, say, soap, while Joseph Thomas asks us to question this
“one-at-a-time” theory in the first place. That there
are people behind the poems is made apparent by Lissa Paul’s
account of the newlywed Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath; likewise, J.
Patrick Lewis reminds us that there are poems behind these
poems, too. Finally, Liz Rosenberg addresses the challenges of finding
and reviewing good poetry for children. (And there is quite a bit
reviewed in this issue; see pages 336–344.)
To all of these poets and critics: thank you. We’re
frequently told, often to the accompaniment of much handwringing,
that poetry needs readers. It may, but more to the point is the
fact that readers need poetry. They don’t always know it,
but they do.
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