Thursday 31 December 2009

The Bestest of 2009


Best poetry debut: Paper Radio by Damian Rogers
Best poetry cover: Paper Radio by Damian Rogers
Best title given to a poetry book: The Hayflick Limit by Matthew Tierney
Best-designed collection: Track & Trace by Zach Wells
Best poetry collection I missed In 2008: Shades of Green by Brent Maclaine
Best critical essay: "Hide and Seek: Looking for the Real MacEwen" by Anita Lahey
Best poetry magazine: Arc
Best new literary mag: Riddle Fence
Best new poetry blog: Vox-Populism
Poetry blog I enjoyed despite myself: Lemon Hound
Best interview with a poet: Jason Guriel
Best headshot: Molly Peacock
Best reading tour coverage: Two on a Choo-Choo
Best literary controversy: Jason Guriel's “Going Negative”
Best book of American poetry I read this year: Yellowrocket by Todd Boss
Best book of British poetry I read this year: Third Wish Wasted by Roddy Lumsden
Best rediscovery: The Essential James Reaney by Brian Bartlett
Best poetry anthology about zoos: Penned: Animals in Zoos in Poems
Best poem about grass-eating quadrupeds: “The Golden Book of Bovinities,” from Figuring Ground
Best moment from one of the launches for This Way Out: Lisa Moore autograph
Most anticipated book of 2010 that doesn’t belong to my press: Bloom by Michael Lista
Most anticipated book of 2010 that does: Circus by Michael Harris

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Carmine,
It's really nice to see Brent Maclaine's "Shades of Green" getting a plug. It's a collection that deserved and deserves more attention.

Happy New Year,

Pat Warner

Conrad DiDiodato said...

Carmine,

are there 'chapbooks' in your collection, and more 'otherstream' publications (such as bpNichol and Acorn-Plantos Chapbook Award winners)?

Is it fair (judicious) to ignore them, if you have?

Semaphore said...

I respectfully submit for your consideration "Semaphore", the poetry blog I began in late May 2009 - http://semaphore1.blogspot.com

Not a full 2009 to be sure, but - in the span of 7 months, and 150 poems later - the site has had over 10,700 unique visitors. "Semaphore" also drew in 4,500 followers on Twitter, 1,700 on Facebook and more elsewhere.

I leave it to the individual reader to see whether the poems suit them, but here's a taste: the collection includes poems such as 'Letter to Neruda' http://bit.ly/s4letneruda - and 'Bereft' http://bit.ly/s4bereft.

If readership is any measure, "Semaphore" is, to my knowledge, one of the most successful pure poetry blogs of its kind, certainly in Canada, and possibly in North America.