Irv Broughton

56. A Good Man : Fathers and Sons in Poetry and Prose edited by Irv Broughton
published: 1993
format: 290 page hardcover
acquired: from a downsizing neighbor (and poet)
read: Dec 24-31
rating: 4

List of all 83 contributors:
Massimo Taparelli A'Azeglio, Sherman Alexie, John Alexander Allen, Sherwood Anderson, Robert Bagg, Richard Blessing, David Bottoms, Irv Broughton, Michael Dennis Browne, Robert Olen Butler, Lewis Carroll, Raymond Carver, Fred Chappell, Alan Cheuse, Robert P. Tristram Coffin, e.e. Cummings, Peter Davidson, James Dickey, George Garrett, Paul S. George, Brewster Ghiselin, Robert Gibb, Gary Gildner, Herbert Gold, Donald Hall, Robert Hayden, Samuel Hazo, Ernest Hemmingway, Bill Henderson, Norman Hindley, David Huddle, Andrew Hudgins, William Humphrey, Richard Jones, Donald Justice, Galway Kinnell, Claude Koch, Ted Kooser, Stanley Kunitz, Greg Kuzma, Philip Levine, Thomas Lynch, Guy de Maupassant, James J. McAuley, Peter Meinke, W. S. Merwin, John N. Morris, Howard Moss, Pablo Neruda, Lewis Nordan, Frank O'Connor, Keith Orchard, Peter Oresick, Simon J. Ortiz, Coventry Patmore, Sir Walter Raleigh, Thomas Reiter, Theodore Roethke, Gamble Rogers, Stephen Sandy, Jonathan Schwartz, Richard Shelton, Stephen Shu-ning Liu, Louis Simpson, William Jay Smith, Matthew J. Spireng, William Stafford, Lucien Stryk, James Tate, Henry Taylor, Dylan Thomas, John Updike, Robert Penn Warren, Jerome Weidman, Tom Whalen, John Hall Wheelock, Miller Williams, Clive Wilmer, Thomas Wolfe, Geoffrey Wolff, David Wright, James Wright, Paul Zimmer

A collection of really high quality if sometimes obscure poetry and very short stories or personal essays with a strong poetic feel. The contributions range in eras and many could not have been that easy to find. A handful of classics or classic authors, some gems from earlier (and throughout) the 20th century, but many were originally published in the 1970's & 1980's. A significant portion are from 1990-1992, and I think this period defines the feel. Broughton was very attuned to the American literary feel of this era, and back cover flap tells his previous book was a collection of interviews of American authors. He put a lot of effort in this selection.

The affect on me of this collection was along the lines of that of a literary magazine, with the notable differences in the consistent high end sense and reward and that it is all, entirely, 100% male—male authors writing about men and boys and themselves, with limited references of moms, daughters, sisters, girlfriends and few, if any, other women.

The contributions are grouped into sections and the opening section was my favorite, and struck me with the strong characterizations, and another favorite section was called "Beautiful Dreams, Vicious Realities". Particularly memorable entries include an opening poem by James Wright titled Father (which I posted in the 2017 CR poetry thread), and great entries by Sherwood Anderson, James J. McAuley, Frank O'Connor, Samuel Hazo, Stephen Sandy, with a beautiful poem on a new born baby, Robert Hayden, Donald Hall, Sherman Alexie (who couldn't have been well known then), Greg Kuzma, Paul Zimmer, Miller Williams, Robert Olen Butler (from is 1993 Pulitzer Prize winning novel, [A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain]), Stanely Kunitz, Peter Davison, Donald Justice and so on. I encountered many of these authors for the first time.

It's probably not a book to read straight through, although I did that and got a little overwhelmed maybe, but a rewarding book for poetry readers.

2017
https://www.librarything.com/topic/279863#6327360… (more)