Tony Hoagland was awarded the second annual Jackson Poetry Prize a few weeks ago. It provides $50,000 to a poet who, despite having published at least one book of poetry, has yet to receive national attention (and, no, I don’t know what “national attention” means on the poetry scene).
The judges’ commendation reads as follows:
“It’s hard to imagine any aspect of contemporary American life that couldn’t make its way into the writing of Tony Hoagland or a word in common or formal usage he would shy away from. He is a poet of risk: he risks wild laughter in poems that are totally heartfelt, poems you want to read out loud to anyone who needs to know the score and even more so to those who think they know the score. The framework of his writing is immense, almost as large as the tarnished nation he wandered into under the star of poetry.”
Last year the award went to Elizabeth Alexander.
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