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The Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought

Contents

LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET 

Collection of 19 poems titled “Letters to a Young Poet” 

POEMS TO A YOUNG POET 

Sad Songs 

Crossing 

Letter to a Young Poet 

Advice to a Young Poet 

In That Rustle 

To a Young Poet: The Sources of Love 

This Thing Called Poem 

Letter to a Young Poet 

Rules as Rilkean Riffs on Yusef Komunyakaa's "Kit & Caboodle": Letter to a Young Poet 

Letter to a New Poet 

Letter to a Young Poet 

Allegory for a Young Poet 

Advice to a Young Poet 

If You Would Be a Poet  

Letter to a Young Poet 

MORE LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET 

Collection of 24 poems titled “Letter to a Young Poet” 

Abstract

Letters to a Young Poet: A special issue of The Midwest Quarterly

"Letters, to a Young Poet" used as the title page for this issue is by Scott Helmes. In the early part of the 20th century, Franz X. Kappus, a young man who was trying to get started as a poet, wrote to Rainer Maria Rilke asking him for advice. Their correspondence continued over a period of several years. Kappus never became a poet of note, but two decades or so after their exchange of letters ended, he published one of the more important books in the history of poetry, a slim volume containing Rilke's remarkable letters to him. This book over the past eighty years has become a touchstone, a foundation, an inspiration to all serious writers of poetry as the most elegant and profound statement of what they aspire to in their art, as well as a model of kindness and generosity in mentoring the next generation of poets.

A little over a year ago, I began to think it might be interesting to see what contemporary poets would come up with if challenged with the task of writing their own letters to a young poet in the shadow of Rilke. So, I issued an invitation to poets who have published work in The Midwest Quarterly during my editorship, some six hundred of them. Nearly a hundred poets responded. The result was astounding. The letters range from mystical to practical, from serious to irreverent, from compassionate to sarcastic. Most letters are written in prose, but several are poems. The shortest is four words, the longest, ten pages, single-spaced! Unfortunately, I did not have room to accommodate them all and even had to edit for length many of those I did accept. My apologies both to those I had to tum down and to those I tampered with without so much as a "by your leave."

Stephen Meats

Poetry Editor

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In accordance with database agreements, the full text of the issue is not available for download. Pittsburg State Digital Commons has only provided the front matter for author and publication information.

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