Jazz. Opera. Poetry. All dead-end art forms, surviving in the ossified remains of prior eras—or so one might be tempted to think. Avant-garde movements in the 20thcentury pushed into extraordinarily difficult and unpalatable directions, while the concurrent rise of new media broke the broader public’s connection with these once-popular forms. Though their cultural prominence has diminished, it’s worth noting that excellent creative work is still being produced in each of these modes, by artists innovating and working within established traditions to find vibrant contemporary expressions.
But what does vibrant contemporary poetry look like? One might turn to prestigious publications like Poetry Magazine, graduate programs like the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, or awards like the Pulitzer Prize. While great work is sometimes championed by such institutions, so much poetry in the wake of modernism has veered toward the esoteric and the prosaic, so that even the most lauded contemporary poets often work within a largely self-contained vortex of MFA students, graduates, and faculty, alienating or ignoring a wider audience. On the other hand, one might turn to the relatively popular volumes of instapoetry with line-drawing cover art and fragments of lower-case musings and trite inspirational mantras. Where does one find new poetry with lasting literary merit and appeal outside the academy?
An abundance of good poetry is still being written, however, even now. One such laborer is the poet, scholar, and teacher Mischa Willett, whose third poetry collection, This Gift Card Has Already Been Redeemed, has just been released by Paraclete Press. Willett is an erudite professor who serves as director of a respected faith-based MFA program (Whitworth Writers’ Workshop in Spokane, Washington). While some of his poems speak directly to fellow poets and students of literature, his work offers plenty to engage non-specialist readers.
Willett writes primarily within the realm of (post)modern free verse, but his lines are crafted with exceptional care.
