ABOUT THIS BOOK

This collection of essays pays tribute to Philip Levine as teacher and mentor. Throughout his fifty-year teaching career, the Pulitzer Prize–winning Levine taught scores of younger poets, many of whom went on to become famous in their own right. These forty essays honor and celebrate one of our most vivid and gifted poets.

Whether in Fresno, New York, Boston, Detroit, or any of the other cities where Levine taught, his students benefited from his sharp, humorous honesty in the classroom. In these personal essays, poets spanning a number of generations reveal how their lives and work were forever altered by studying with Levine. The heartfelt tributes illuminate how one dedicated teacher’s intangible gifts can make a vast difference in the life of a developing poet, as well as providing insight into the changing tenor of the poetry workshop in the American university setting.

Here, poets as diverse as Nick Flynn and David St. John, Sharon Olds and Larry Levis, Ada Limon and Mark Levine, Malena Morling and Lawson Fusao Inada are united in their deep regard for Philip Levine. The voices echo and reverberate as each strikes its own honoring tone.

Contributors: Aaron Belz, Ciaran Berry, Paula Bohince, Shane Book, B. H. Boston, Xochiquetzal Candelaria, Colin Cheney, Michael Clifton, Michael Collier, Nicole Cooley, Kate Daniels, Blas Manuel De Luna, Kathy Fagan, Andrew Feld, Nick Flynn, Edward Hirsch, Sandra Hoben, Ishion Hutchinson, Lawson Fusao Inada, Dorianne Laux, Joseph O. Legaspi, Mark Levine, Larry Levis, Ada Limón, Elline Lipkin, Jane Mead, Dante Micheaux, Malena Mörling, John Murillo, Daniel Nester, Sharon Olds, January Gill O’Neil, Greg Pape, Kathleen Peirce, Sam Pereira, Jeffrey Skinner, Tom Sleigh, David St. John, Brian Turner, Robert Wrigley

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Mari L’Esperance is a poet and a licensed marriage and family therapist. She holds an MA in literature and creative writing from New York University and is the author of a full-length collection of poetry, The Darkened Temple, and a chapbook, Begin Here. Tomás Q. Morín is a senior lecturer in English at Texas State University. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Texas State University and is the author of the poetry collection A Larger Country.

REVIEWS

"You might change someone’s life (read for the better) through a chance encounter as you walk to the corner store for bread. If you choose to teach the writing of poetry, however, you increase your chances of experiencing this privilege. But even within this category of poet-teacher, when it comes to changing lives, Philip Levine, by all accounts, has surpassed all probability. Gathered here are a handful of essays that speak of his (not always immediately appreciated) honesty, his commitment to poetry and to his students, his humor, and his generosity. These essays are love letters—thank-you notes for some of the great gifts. These former students understand what Larry Levis calls ‘the invisible great good luck’ of having had Phil as a teacher."—from the introduction by Jane Mead

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Their Invisible Great Good Luck / Jane Mead

A Laureate in Letters: Philip Levine in Correspondence, 1994 - 2011 / Aaron Belz

Rhymes with Deer / Ciaran Berry

Philip Levine, Professional Wrestling, and Me / Paula Bohince

Mine Own Philip Levine / Shane Book

Changed Utterly / B. H. Boston

On the Teaching of Philip Levine / Xochiquetzal Candelaria

It's beautiful whether or not you let it be / Colin Cheney

They Feed They Lion and Me / Michael Clifton

A Real Fact / Michael Collier

Trust the Poet: Reflections on Phil Levine at Three Universities / Nicole Cooley

Birth in a Poetry Position: On Philip Levine / Kate Daniels

What We Were Doing Was Work / Blas Manuel De Luna

Homage to Mr. Levine / Kathy Fagan

Terrific / Andrew Feld

A Light Inside / Nick Flynn

Thirty Years from Somewhere / Edward Hirsch

Philip Levine: The Proof of My Patience / Sandra Hoben

An Exquisite Simulacrum / Ishion Hutchinson

The Surprising Chill / Lawson Fusao Inada

Philip Levine and My Pursuit of a Life in Poetry / Joseph O. Legaspi

Philip Levine: A Resonant Presence / Mari L'Esperance

Winter, 1985 / Mark Levine

Philip Levine / Larry Levis

Worth Fighting For: An Essay for Philip Levine / Ada Limon

Phil Levine at Houston: My First Teacher / Elline Lipkin

The Capricorn's Pedagogy / Dante Micheaux

The Simple Voice of Philip Levine / Tomas Q. Morin

High above the Atlantic / Malena Morling

A Love Supreme: Notes toward an Appropriate Gratitude / John Murillo

An Apprentice's Tale / Daniel Nester

Reading Philip Levine in 1972 / Sharon Olds

So Enough / January Gill O'Neil

Finding Levine / Greg Pape

On the Meeting of Garcia Lorca / Kathleen Peirce

Jabs, Undercuts, and Kindness: The Humanity of Philip Levine / Same Pereira

Permission to Be: Philip Levine at Columbia, 1978 / Jeffrey Skinner

To See What It Was Worth / Tom Sleigh

Philip Levine and the Hands of Time / David St. John

The Poems We Carry / Brian Turner

A Walk with Philip Levine / Robert Wrigley

Contributors

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