Old Flame: From the First 10 Years of 32 Poems Magazine

by Deborah Ager (Editor), Bill Beverly (Editor), John Poch (Editor)

Poetry. In this anthology, editors Deborah Ager, Bill Beverly and John Poch showcase 64 of the best poems to appear in 32 Poems Magazine during its first 10 years of publication. Each poet also offers brief commentary on his or her selected poem. Featuring a wide variety of forms, topics and styles from 64 contemporary poets, OLD FLAME will be a welcome companion in your classroom or on the bookshelves near your favorite reading spot. "What an astounding the best work from one of our best journals... Come, reader, come warm your hands, come be licked by these flames," says Beth Ann Fennelly. "Fulfilling Yeats's admonition that 'our fire must burn slowly,' this OLD FLAME burns slowly, its light and heat last," says H. L. Hix.

Contributors are Kelli Russell Agodon, Melanie Almeder, Amanda Auchter, Curtis Bauer, Evan Beaty, Erin Belieu, Paula Bohince, Bruce Bond, Kim Bridgford, Geoffrey Brock, Stephen Burt, Amy M. Clark, Esvie Coemish, Billy Collins, Ken Cormier, Chad Davidson, Lydia Davis, Carolina Edeid, Gregory Fraser, Bernadette Geyer, Lohren Green, Austin Hummell, John Jenkinson, Carrie Jerrell, Marci Rae Johnson, Holly Karapetkova, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, David Kirby, Jacqueline Kolosov, William Logan, Amit Majmudar, Randall Mann, Kevin McFadden, Erika Meitner, Jennifer Militello, Daniel Nester, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Kate Northrop, Dan O'Brien, Eric Pankey, Anne Panning, Jeffrey Pethybridge, Dan Pinkerton, Kevin Prufer, Matthew Roth, Natalie Shapero, Eric Smith, Hope Maxwell Snyder, Lisa Russ Spaar, A. E. Stallings, Maura Stanton, Melissa Stein, Alexandra Teague, Jeffrey Thomson, Eric Torgersen, D. H. Tracy, Laura van Prooyen, Adam Vines, William Wenthe, Greg Williamson, Catherine Wing, Terri Witek, George Witte and Josephine Yu.

Genres: Poetry

115 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2012

About the author

Deborah Ager founded 32 Poems in 2003. For seven years, she's edited and published the magazine with coeditor John Poch. Many poems first appearing in 32 Poems have been honored in the Best American Poetry and Best New Poets anthologies and on Verse Daily and Poetry Daily. 32 Poems is an independent journal funded by subscriptions. An interview with Ager, with poems read by poets published in 32 Poems, will air on NPR's Baltimore station.

Ager's first book, Midnight Voices, was published in 2009. Her writing appears in The Bloomsbury Review, New England Review, The Georgia Review, Quarterly West, New South, and elsewhere. She's received fellowships from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, the Cafritz Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She received a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship to the Sewanee Writers' Conference and codirects the Joaquin Miller Cabin Poetry Reading Series in Washington, DC."

Reviews

[Juliana Gray]

Terrific array of contemporary poems from the pages of 32 Poems. Favorites include "When the Rider is Truth" by Carrie Jerrell, "Tastebud Sonzal" by Amit Majmudar, "The Dead End" by Dan O'Brien, "Palm Heel" by Natalie Shapero, "Toilet Flowers" by Adam Vines, and many others. I plan to use this anthology in my Writing II class next semester; not only are the poems good, but since they're so fresh, they'll make for virtually plagiarism-proof assignments.

[Terry]

At a slim 64 poems, this collection is still worthwhile. Most fit on one page. There are examples of several forms and approaches. All were accessible and artful, with a few truly refreshing works -
A.E. Stallings' "Ultrasound" and Kelli Russell Agodon's "Relieving Anagrams" were two of many I took delight in. This is the era of free poetry easily plucked from the internet; this is the sort of collection that reminds me to pay the publishing piper every so often in support of remarkable art.

[Andrew Craft]

One of the very best anthologies of contemporary poetry. Read it for pleasure, teach it in class, you cannot go wrong with this exquisite collection of poetry.