Observable Readings
Observable Readings Opens 2010-2011 Season with Scott Cairns and Richard Newman on Sept. 6
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 05:48 PM
When a roll call is taken of "poets of faith," names come to mind such as Mary Karr of The Liars' Club fame, Pulitzer-Prize winner Franz Wright, and Kathleen Norris, the author of Dakota: A Spiritual Geography.
Another name in the top tier of such poets is Scott Cairns, a professor of English literature and creative writing at the University of Missouri-Columbia and a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006. However, if anyone is expecting the poetic equivalent of stained glass from Cairns, he or she instead should expect broken glass, or even flung open windows. Cairns is a poet at once theological, erotic, and comedic. As one interviewer once wrote, "Ask Scott Cairns a question and you're likely to end up his straight man." Who else could crack jokes in a series of poems titled "Adventures in New Testament Greek?" Author Annie Dillard, however, sounds a little more serious when she says, "Scott Cairns is one of the best poets alive."
Cairns' recent collections of poetry include Philokalia, Compass of Affection, and Recovered Body. He is working on a new collection with a tentative title of Idiot Psalms. His most recent work, a book-length essay titled The End of Suffering: Finding Purpose in Pain, was published by Paraclete Press in 2009. His work has appeared in the Best American Spiritual Writing anthology in 1998, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008. To enjoy a selection of his work, click here. To read an interview with Cairns, click here.
The Riverfront Times named Richard Newman "best local poet" in 2008, but this literary light of St. Louis shines on a national level, too. His poem "Briefcase of Sorrow" was picked by former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins for inclusion in Best American Poetry 2006. Other poems of Newman's have appeared in the online poetry showcases Verse Daily and Poetry Daily, and on Garrison Keillor's The Writers Almanac on public radio.
Newman owes his growing reputation to a sense of humor that fellow poet Molly Peacock calls "savage" and a sense of heart that is ultimately compassionate. "His greatness, for all his technical skill," writes Maura Stanton, another poet, "is to give us a sense that we are all in this together, that he's out there for all of us, figuring out how to make sense of muddled, disappointed lives."
Newman is the author of two full-length poetry collections, Domestic Fugues (Steel Toe Books, 2009) and Borrowed Towns (Word Press, 2005), as well as several poetry chapbooks, including Monster Gallery: 19 Terrifying and Amazing Monster Sonnets! He edits the literary journal River Styx, co-directs the River Styx at Duff's Reading Series, and teaches at Washington University and St. Louis Community College, rounding him out as a true man of letters. To read a selection of his poems, click here. To read an article in The Riverfront Times about the River Styx journal and poetry series and Newman's role in them, click here.
Carl Phillips has been an important national figure for years, bringing credit to Washington University, St. Louis, and to the art of poetry. His considerable output of poems (11 volumes, including Double Shadow, forthcoming next spring) reflects a voracious creative energy and bountiful intelligence, all the more remarkable when one consider the demands of his public appearances and his central place in the graduate writing program at WU. He holds a joint appointment as professor in both the African and Afro-American Studies and English Departments. 