6
Philip Levine
Being the Poet Laureate is pretty badass, we have to say. But Levine,
who grew up in industrial Detroit and began working in car
manufacturing plants by the ripe age of fourteen, has applied that
experience to his excellent poetry, steeped in the working class
concerns of 20th century Detroit and the Jewish immigrant experience.
His work questions conventional American ideas and values and,
especially starting with They Feed They Lion, pushes the boundaries of
traditional form. Plus, at 84, he’s still writing up a storm, and you can’t
say that’s not badass in and of itself.
Yusef Komunyakaa
Born in Bogalusa, Louisiana at the beginning of the Civil Rights
movement, Komunyakaa served as a correspondent in the United
States Army and as the managing editor of the military paper Southern
Cross during the Vietnam war, for which he was awarded a Bronze Star.
Later, he began writing poetry, not just about the war — though his
collection Dien Cai Dau is astounding — and his poems are filled with
fierce, arresting imagery and deep musical cadences. Of his work, poet
Toi D