ON THE LIMITS OF MONEY

I offer below a list of poetry books or books of other genre by poets that I purchased in 2010. What's good about it is how it reflects an improvement from 2009's relatively paltry list.

Money doesn't reflect desire when it comes to my poetry-buying. While this list offers poets whose works I like and thus acquire, it also reflects books bought from no particularly strong desire to include in my poetry library (jest curiosity). For instance, some books were bought at a local public library sale for cents on the dollar, a price that makes me buy poetry without a particularly strong interest in such acquisition. Distribution does matter -- this list also reflects purchases gifted by Mom when we go shopping at a local Copperfield bookstore, which means my purchases are constrained by the universe of Copperfield's poetry buyer who has shown him/herself not to be particularly broadminded. Finally, I also buy poetry books for other people, e.g. through the Galatea Resurrects Publisher's Prize (which is not to say I wouldn't buy books on the list of this link for my own enjoyment).

So the list offers no particular picture of Moi, since I have too many alternative access to poetry books I actually will cherish, whether through gifts, trades or even review copies. Nonetheless, a list exists of my BOUGHT POETRY OR BOOKS BY POETS and so here it is for 2010. Unless stated otherwise, the books are poetry collections:

THE FAR MOSQUE by Kazim Ali

FRAGILE REPLACEMENTS by William Allegrezza

OPEN CLOSED OPEN by Yehuda Amichai

A BLUE HAND: THE BEATS IN INDIA, biography by Deborah Baker

KALI'S BLADE by Michelle Bautista

UNPROTECTED TEXTS: SELECTED POEMS 1978-2007 by Tom Beckett

Belladonna 2011 Subscription: "A Year in the Commons" featuring THE WIDE ROAD by Lyn Hejinian & Carla Harryman; LOOKING UP HARRYETTE MULLEN: INTERVIEWS ON SLEEPING WITH THE DICTIONARY AND OTHER WORKS by Barbara Henning; Belladonna limited edition chapbooks; SEASONS: QUARTETS (RECOMPOSED): WORDS MOVE / MUSIC MOVES: ONLY IN TIME -- THE FOUR SEASONS re-composed by Colette Alexander and Nancy Magarill, THE FOUR QUARTETS re-envisioned by Kristin Prevallet; and SUNDAY, THEORY: A TRANSLATION OF LA THEORIE, UN DIMANCHE (1988, Remue-Menage), a multi-authored, multi-genre (theory, fiction) volume of six Québécois Women: Louky Bersianik, Nicole Brossard, Louise Cotnoir, Louise Dupré, Gail Scott, and France Théoret, with short contemporary commentary by a diverse range of writers, and translated by Erica Weitzman, Pophana Brandes et al; edited by Rachel Levitsky and Gail Scott.

ALL THE WHISKEY IN HEAVEN: Selected Poems of Charles Bernstein

BOUGH BREAKS by Tamiko Beyer

FLUX, CLOTH & FROTH, Vol. 1 (text) by John Bloomberg-Rissman (You should buy some, too! Special Release Offer Still Active HERE)

FLUX, CLOTH & FROTH, Vol. 2 (notes to poems) by John Bloomberg-Rissman (You should buy some, too! Special Release Offer Still Active HERE)

DAYS POEM, Vols. 1 and 2 by Allen Bramhall

QUINTESSENCE OF THE MINOR: SYMBOLIST POETRY IN ENGLISH, essay by Garrett Caples

THE COMPLETE STORIES AND POEMS OF LEWIS CARROLL

BEAUTIFUL SIGNOR by Cyrus Cassells

NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Jennifer Clement

THE WHOLE TRUTH by James Cummins

NIGHTBIRDS by Garin Cycholl

DAYS WE ARE GIVEN by Alice D'Alessio

MIDNIGHT'S GATE, essays by Bei Dao

RESIN by Geri Doran

SONATA MULATTICA by Rita Dove

THE COCKTAIL PARTY by T.S. Eliot

HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES: FROM INDIOS BRAVOS TO FILIPINOS by Luis H. Francia

VESTIGES OF WAR: THE PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR AND THE AFTERMATH OF AN IMPERIAL DREAM, 1899-1999, Co-edited by Luis Francia and Angel Velasco Shaw. Contributors include Genara Banzon, Santiago Bose, Ben Cabrera, Renato Constantino, Doreen Fernandez, Eric Gamalinda, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Jessica Hagedorn, Reynaldo Ileto, Yong Soon Min, Manuel Ocampo, Paul Pfeiffer, Christina Quisumbing, Vicente Rafael, Daniel Boone Schirmer, Kidlat Tahimik, Mark Twain, and Jim Zwick.

A WORKING GIRL CAN'T WIN AND OTHER POEMS by Deborah Garrison

AUTOPSY TURVY by Thomas Fink & Maya Diablo Mason

THE DANCE MOST OF ALL by Jack Gilbert

THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS OF POEMS (Firstborn, The House on Marshland, Descending Figure and The Triumph of Achilles) by Louise Gluck

THE SEVEN AGES by Louise Gluck

HARD TO PLACE: ONE FAMILYS JOURNEY THROUGH ADOPTION, poetry therapy memoir by Marion Goldstein

STAGE PRESENCE: CONVERSATIONS WITH FILIPINO AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTISTS edited by Theodore S. Gonzalves

PIGAFETTA IS MY WIFE by Joe Hall

TRAJE DE BODA by Aileen Ibardaloza

TRANCE ARCHIVES: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Andrew Joron

BRIGHT STAR: LOVE LETTERS AND POEMS OF JOHN KEATS TO FANNY BRAWNE

A NIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR by Jewel Kilcheer (it required poetry for me to know her last name...)

STET by Jose Kozer

LIVING UNDER PLASTIC by Evelyn Lau

SHARKS IN THE RIVERS by Ada Limon

ARCHIPELAGO DUST by Karen Llagas

WAITING FOR SWEET BETTY by Clarence Major

GORGEOUS CHAOS: NEW & SELECTED POEMS 1965-2001 by Jack Marshall

WISDOM OF THE LAST FARMER, memoir by poet David Mas Masumoto

MEETING SOPHIE: A MEMOIR OF ADOPTION by Nancy McCabe

HINGE & SIGN by Heather McHugh

THE GOD OF INDETERMINACY by Sandra McPherson

DIARY OF A WAVE OUTSIDE THE SEA by Dunya Mikhail

THE WAR WORKS HARD by Dunya Mikhail

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SUN: STORIES AND POEMS, 1961-1991 by N. Scott Momaday

TEXTURE NOTES by Sawako Nakayasu

IOWA by Travis Nichols

WOVEN STONE by Simon J. Ortiz

THE POEMS OF DOCTOR ZHIVAGO by Boris Pasternak, Trans. by Eugene M. Kayden with drawings by Bill Greer

FOR A LIVING by Frances Phillips

FAULTY MOTHERING by Elaine Randell

COOKING WITH ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES by Francis Raven

CHILDREN OF DREAMS, memoir by Lorilyn Roberts

LISA ROBERTSON'S MAGENTA SOUL WHIP by Lisa Robertson

A RADIANCE LIKE WIND OR WATER by Richard Ronan

HEARTWOOD: MEDITATIONS ON SOUTHERN OAKS with poetry by Rumi and photographs by William Guion

THE SINGERS & THE NOTES by Logan Ryan Smith

UNABLE TO FULLY CALIFORNIA by Larry Sawyer

KING OF THE JUNGLE by Zvi A. Sesling

PASSAGE THROUGH INDIA, travelogue by Gary Snyder

RIPRAP AND COLD MOUNTAIN POEMS by Gary Snyder

VIEW WITH A GRAIN OF SAND: SELECTED POEMS by Wislawa Szymborska

SILK EGG: COLLECTED NOVELS (2009-2009) by Eileen R. Tabios (Please buy it, too! Available at Amazon U.S. and U.K., SPD, The Book Depository (U.K.) B & N, Ingram, Baker & Taylor, etc.--GO HERE or HERE (through Jan. 31, 2011) for the ordering links through various venues)

THE THORN ROSARY: SELECTED PROSE POEMS & NEW: 1998-2010 by Eileen R. Tabios

HERON/GIRLFRIEND by Jen Tynes

NATIVE GUARD by Natasha Trethewey

RADHA SAYS by Reetika Vazirani

VIRTUOSO LITERATURE FOR TWO AND FOUR HANDS: NEW POEMS by Diane Wakoski

OVERTIME: SELECTED POEMS by Philip Whalen, Ed. Michael Rothenberg

LEAVES OF GRASS by Walt Whitman

BY PARKED CARS by J.D. Woolery

POEMCRAZY: FREEING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS, essays by Susan G. Wooldridge

UNRELATED INDIVIDUALS FORMING A GROUP WAITING TO CROSS by Mark Yakich

EXHIBITS by John Yau

THE SECOND PERSON: POEMS by C. Dale Young

MORE FROM SERIES MAGRITTE by Mark Young

We're just about a week into the new year and I am happy to share that I've already started on the 2011 List! There should be no recession in Poetry!