What’s the last book you read that made you laugh?
I suppose Philip Roth’s “Sabbath’s Theater.” My favorite of his novels, a work of genius. I’m not a big reader-laugher.
The last book that made you furious?
“The Collected Poems of Delmore Schwartz” made me furious, the thought of his tragic life. The first poems are marvelous, and how much trouble there is with the enormous rest of the book. Such a gifted man, and so terrible a life.
Which contemporary poets do you enjoy reading?
I like Michael Hofmann, Nick Cave and Anne Carson. He’s not alive but I delight in John Ashbery’s work, the drift and sway and music of it. Other than that I tend to move back in time — I’m a great admirer of Mandelstam and Montale. D.H. Lawrence, the author of the astonishing novella “St. Mawr,” is a very fine poet I admire, who rarely gets mentioned for his poetry. The poems of places and landscapes have a pithiness and astringency and life that are very pleasing.
How have your reading tastes changed over time?
I now read drastically fewer novels. An emphasis on poetry, ancient and contemporary. I’ve been rereading Montale, in Jonathan Galassi’s excellent translation. I’ve been reading the Milton of the sonnets. Virgil and Catullus. Sappho. Ezra Pound’s “Cathay.” Robert Frost and Apollinaire. And, of course, the collected Freud.
What prompted you to write a poem about Nick Cave?
I think that he is a marvelous artist and a wonderful man. I am fond of him personally and admire his work. I was at his last concert at the Beacon Theater in New York, which was remarkable, as all of his performances are. I then saw a video of him in the bar at Claridge’s in London, giving an impromptu performance for the startled, clearly very moved people there who had not expected to hear Nick Cave, but were treated to this. He’s a wonderful singer and the material that he uses for the songs is powerfully moving, involving his own personal losses and drama. I couldn’t be more admiring.
