Everything and Other Poems

”An enchanting tour de force of sensory delights. Sly wit and encyclopedic reference command a subtle and upbeat tone, as if [North] is surprising himself along for the ride.” —Anne Waldman

Charles North is the quintessential poet''s poet. James Schuyler confidently named him “the most stimulating poet of his generation,” while Harry Mathews possibly took it one step further to claim that Charles “belongs on the summit of our American Parnassus.” To claim that Charles North is a cornerstone in the home of contemporary American poetry would not be an exaggeration.
In Everything and Other Poems, his 12th collection, the trademarks of North''s poetry shine with an earnestness, ambition, intellect and his modest sense of humor, capturing the many-faceted lives we lead. For example, in the 26-page-long title poem “Everything,” we watch as the poet''s mind, like a river, flows past and around, and lifts up the detritus of his imagination: books, movies, paintings, cartoons, animals, the silent letter "e," death, the moon, the weather, the rhythms, sounds, questions and the textures of life itself. Prose poems, long-form poems, studies for poems, lists, plus a game of cat and mouse with some French Symbolists—North is at the top of his game in this collection. Covering a career spanning over 40 years, this book proves North to be the poet of, well, everything.
Charles North (born 1941) has published 11 books of poems, three books of critical prose and several collaborations with artists and other poets. With James Schuyler, he edited the poet/painter anthologies Broadway and Broadway 2 (Hanging Loose Press, 1989). His What It is Like: New and Selected Poems (Hanging Loose Press, 2011) headed NPR''s Best Poetry Books of 2011, and he has received a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant, two NEA grants, four Fund for Poetry Awards and a Poets Foundation Award. He lives with his wife, the painter Paula North, in New York City.