Literati is thrilled to welcome Kurt Luchs to celebrate the release of Tributaries.
About the Book: In Tributaries, Kurt Luchs chooses twenty poems that hold vital meaning for him as a reader and writer—many, but not all, recognized as classics—and pays twofold tribute to them. First, he explores each poem with a deep-diving personal essay on how the poet works their magic upon us. Then he gives a tribute poem of his own, in response to, or inspired by, the poem under discussion. The result is a uniquely well-rounded, multidimensional way of honoring great poems, unlocking more of their treasures for both first-time and long-time lovers of poetry.
Poets featured are Wallace Stevens, Robinson Jeffers, David Ignatow, Philip Larkin, D. H. Lawrence, Etheridge Knight, Wislawa Szymborska, Lucille Clifton, Gabriela Mistral, H. D., Jorge Luis Borges, Federico Garcia Lorca, Mary Oliver, Lewis Carroll, Kenneth Koch, Homer, Louise Glück, Robert Bly, Charles Simic and James Tate.
Kurt Luchs was born in Cheektowaga, New York, grew up in Wheaton, Illinois, and has lived and worked all over the United States. Currently he’s based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. His first poetry publication came at age 16 in the long-gone journal Epos, right next to a poem by Bukowski. He wrote comedy for television and radio, and contributed humor to the New Yorker, the Onion and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, among others. His poetry chapbooks include One of These Things Is Not Like the Other, and The Sound of One Hand Slapping. He won a 2022 Pushcart Prize, a 2021 James Tate Poetry Prize, the 2021 Eyelands Book Award for Short Stories, and the 2019 Atlanta Review International Poetry Contest. He is a Contributing Editor of Exacting Clam, the literary journal from Sagging Meniscus.