The Thousand Wells: Poems

by Adam Kirsch

In 2001, Ivan R. Dee began publication of the annual New Criterion Poetry Prize–winner with the appearance of Donald Petersen's Early and Late . The New Criterion , which has published poetry since 1984, is recognized as one of the foremost contemporary venues for poetry with a regard for traditional meter and poetic form. The magazine was thus an early leader in that poetic renaissance that has come to be called the New Formalism. For 2002 The New Criterion Poetry Prize was awarded to Adam Kirsch. His first book of poems, The Thousand Wells , is now published. Combining a passionate lyricism with commanding technical skill, Mr. Kirsch offers a beguiling and memorable sequence of poems that are deeply alive to the enchantments of nature and the chastenings of history. This is a remarkable debut by a notable young poet.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Hardcover

First published August 25, 2002

About the author

Adam Kirsch is the author of two collections of poems and several books of poetry criticism. A senior editor at the New Republic and a columnist for Tablet, he also writes for The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books. He lives in New York City with his wife and son.

Reviews

[Lorie LovesBooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of these poems did evoke images of New York, but reading this left a feeling of heaviness. The imagery was about everyday things, very much more like random descriptions than a cohesive stanza. I also felt that the way women were depicted I found to be insulting seeing them as bodies to tempt and frustrate men not because they are cognizant beings with their own thoughts, desires, and dreams.