The new Everyman's Library Pocket Poets collection JAZZ POEMS, selected and edited by Knopf poet Kevin Young, offers a treasury of poems that are as varied and as vital as the music that inspired them. In his introduction, Young writes:

At its best, jazz also offers a kind of redemption, evoked in this book's closing poem, "The Journey." Written by Lawson Fusao Inada, it is a fine poem by a poet too often overlooked—not only is he the first Asian American poet published in the States, but he has consistently written about jazz. His poem, picturing an afterlife of music, is one that the blues may not often invoke but that jazz seems to require and insist upon. Soaring in a spiritual, moaning like the blues, rolling along like justice or the rock'n'roll it inspired, jazz challenges us to hear the world anew, even though, Billie Holiday sang, it "don't explain."

Poem of the Day: "The Journey"
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Today's episode of the Knopf Poetry podcast features Nobel prizewinning author Toni Morrison. She chose to read "First Poem After Serious Surgery" by June Jordan, the acclaimed poet, activist, and essayist who wrote, among other topics, about her personal bout with breast cancer in KISSING GOD GOODBYE.

Poem of the Day: "First Poem After Serious Surgery"
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Podcast: Listen to a recording of Toni Morrison reading "First Poem After Serious Surgery":
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Earlier this year, Julian Barnes travelled to New York from London to give readings from ARTHUR & GEORGE, his newest novel, about two men whose lives became intertwined in late-Victorian England. We asked him to take a moment between book tour events to read a favorite poem from that time period for our podcast, and he selected "The Frozen Greenhouse" by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). Below, you will find a poem by Anthony Hecht (1923-2004), whose own work was influenced by Hardy's great poems of guilt and grief.

Poem of the Day: "Poppy"
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Podcast: Listen to a recording of Julian Barnes reading "The Frozen Greenhouse":
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"I hope the poem to be the subject, not just about it." —Frank O'Hara (1926-1966)

Today's selection is one of the many works in which O'Hara is walking around Manhattan thinking aloud, and one of the many he simply entitled "Poem." You can also hear him in today's episode of the Knopf Poetry podcast.

Poem of the Day: "Poem"
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Podcast: Listen to a recording of Frank O'Hara reading "Poem":
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Anne Carson's DECREATION includes many forms—opera libretto, screenplay, oratorio, essay, rapture as well as poetry. She chose to read one of the poems called "Outwardly His Life Ran Smoothly" for the Knopf Poetry podcast, and you'll find the text below. We've also included the link to a beautiful broadside of Carson's "Ode to Sleep," designed by Knopf's Art Director and her longtime book jacket designer, Carol Devine Carson.

Poem of the Day: "Outwardly His Life Ran Smoothly"
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Podcast: Listen to a recording of Anne Carson reading "Outwardly His Life Ran Smoothly":
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John Updike is the author of more than fifty books, including novels, collections of short stories, and criticism, and has received numerous honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. This summer, he will release his latest work to the world; it is a powerful novel called TERRORIST that will astound longtime fans and new readers alike. When we asked Mr. Updike to read for the Knopf Poetry podcast, he chose one of his earliest works called "Seagulls," which he wrote in 1961. We called him at home in Massachusetts to record, and were quickly reminded that although he may wear many hats, John Updike will always be a brilliant poet.

Poem of the Day: "The Waking"
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Podcast: Listen to a recording of John Updike reading "Seagulls":
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In her 2004 collection, IN THE SALT MARSH, Nancy Willard shares her passion for observing the mysteries of the natural world.

Poem of the Day: "Lightning Bugs"
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