Tate, James 2001
On Monday, Miss Francis told her sixth grade class that she was getting married soon. The class was very happy for her, and they asked her lots of questions about her wedding plans. They never once mentioned the Civil War.
– James Tate, “Shiloh”
Broadside of James Tate’s poem, “Shiloh.”
Read this interview with James Tate from the Paris Review:
The Art of Poetry No. 92
James Tate, ca. 1965. Photograph by Elsa Dorfman James Vincent Tate was born on December 8, 1943, in Kansas City, Missouri. He was educated at Kansas State College and at the University of Iowa, where he was still a student when his first book, The Lost Pilot (1967), was…
Eventually we must combine nightmares
an angel smoking a cigarette on the steps
of the last national bank, said to me.
I put her out with my thumb. I don’t need that
cheap talk I’ve got my own problems.
– James Tate, “Fuck the Astronauts”
Watch James Tate read some of his poetry:
