It doesn’t take a chemical engineer to discover the popularity of poetry is on the decline. A brief glance at the poetry section of any bookstore is all it takes to confirm the fact. While academic commentators debate the cause, lovers of poetry lament the gradual loss of beloved companions. Stevens, Lorca and Williams will no doubt remain for some time, but it’s the loss of the present, the loss of future generations that we most mourn.
Amid all this, it’s heartening to know there are specialty presses, publishers that devote themselves entirely to poetry. Over the past several decades, a number of small but successful presses have sprung up to fill the void. None have had the story or success of Copper Canyon Press.
Started in 1972 by Sam Hamill and Jim Gautney, the small press grew from the kitchen of a tenement apartment in Denver to be one of the most influential poetry presses in recent memory. It began with a $500 prize awarded to Hamill, which secured the first galley press. Soon Hamill and Gautney were joined by Tree Swanson and Bill O’Daly, and Copper Canyon Press moved out of the kitchen to a small plot of land in Port Townsend, Wash., where they shared space and staff with Centrum, a non-profit arts-programming organization.
Despite economic hardships and various staff changes throughout the early years, Copper Canyon Press grew. First it was Marianne Wolfe in 1973. Then came Olga Broumas and Thomas McGrath. By the time Bill O’Daly finished his translations of six volumes of Pablo Neruda’s later work in 1984, the press had blossomed into a full-fledged influence. Neruda’s poems, especially, brought the fame, much-deserved recognition and much-needed business.
Eventually the press grew too large to be handled by a small group of dedicated volunteers. The success of several projects forced them to finally create a working non-profit structure, including a board of directors and a paid staff. Highly regarded work began to come out in a steady stream: Nobel Prize winners Odysseas Elytis, Vicente Aleixandre and Czeslaw Milosz; poets W.S. Merwin and Hayden Carruth, and a ground-breaking program for poetry in translation.
Through it all, however, they have remained consistent. The press has championed new and ground-breaking poets, introduced a host of Zen poets to the West, and brought books from established poets whom the establishment had forgotten about to the eyes of the public. The addition of Hayden Carruth, in particular, had a profound impact on modern poetry.
Now as Copper Canyon Press stands firmly in its third decade, its influence is stronger than ever. It continues to publish multiple titles a year, stocking bookshelves with some of the best poets East and West. The press this past fall published “Delights & Shadows,” a new offering by Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. They’ve continued their lauded program, Poets Aloud, which offers book discounts to groups gathering to read poetry aloud.
Most importantly, however, they’ve remained committed to their goal of providing poets and lovers of poetry a quality and consistent press. An essential player in publishing, they remain — as they always have — dedicated to poetry, to poets and to readers.
