I hope you have been reading the great write ups presented to you by the organizers of The Long Beach Poetry Festival. Tomorrow Long Beach will find itself bathing in the beauty of words. And how in harsh truths, can be presented eloquently when attention is paid to technique, originality, and creativity. More importantly, we will all see prime examples of writers that not only know their art and have something to say, but something that needs to be heard by anyone with ears. With poems like I Have News For You, and the one below, Grammar you will understand why missing this would be nothing but a mistake.
Today Clint Margrave gives us a few words on this years headliner for the Long Beach Poetry Festival, Tony Hoagland.
In an age in which obscuring language is the only risk the big-named poets seem to want to take, Tony Hoagland writes clear, intelligent, and witty poems whose vulnerability and honesty attempt the riskiest poetic device of all, saying something.
