David Dalton Yezzi (born 1966) is an American poet, editor, actor, and professor. He currently teaches poetry in the Writing Seminars at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

Life

Yezzi was born in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

review.com/issue/32/yezzi_i.html
An Interview with David Yezzi by Ernest Hilbert, ''The Cortland Review'', Issue 32, June 2006, accessed February 1, 2007 He attended

The Doane Stuart School The Doane Stuart School is a private college preparatory school in Rensselaer, New York. The School is coeducational and interfaith, and it educates students from early childhood through Grade 12. History The Doane Stuart School ("Doane Stuart") w ...

. Yezzi earned a bachelor's degree in theater from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

and a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from

Columbia University School of the Arts The Columbia University School of the Arts, (also known as School of the Arts or SoA) is the fine arts graduate school of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, New York. It offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, Visual Arts, ...

Career

Yezzi was Director of the Unterberg Poetry Center of the

92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...

in New York City from 2001 to 2005 and has worked as executive editor and, then, poetry editor of ''

The New Criterion ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', associate editor of '' Parnassus: Poetry in Review'', and was on the staff of ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...

''.
Google Cache of biographical sketch page of David Yezzi at 92nd Street Y Web site, accessed February 1, 2007 He is a professor in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University and a former editor of

The Hopkins Review ''The Hopkins Review'' is a quarterly academic journal that publishes fiction, poetry, memoirs, essays on literature, drama, film, the visual arts, music, dance, and reviews of books in all these areas, as well as reviews of performances and exhib ...

. Yezzi was a co-founder of the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

theater company, Thick Description, and has performed in works by Shakespeare, Shaw, Brecht, Goethe, Williams, and others in the United States and Europe. In March 2010, Verse Theater Manhattan presented Yezzi's evening of verse monologues, ''Dirty Dan & Other Travesties,'' at the Bowery Poetry Club, with Yezzi performing "Tomorrow & Tomorrow." In October 2021, he performed the title role in The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory's production of ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...

''.MD Theatre Review
/ref> In 1998, he was awarded a Wallace Stegner Fellowship from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

(1998–2000). His poems have been published in literary journals including ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', ''

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

'', ''

The Yale Review ''The Yale Review'' is the oldest literary journal in the United States. It is published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It was founded in 1819 as ''The Christian Spectator'' to support Evangelicalism. Over time it began to publish more on hi ...

'', ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...

'', ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...

'', ''

Poetry Daily Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in a ...

'' and ''

''. His literary essays and reviews have appeared in ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', ''

The New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', '' The (London) Times Literary Supplement'', ''

'' and elsewhere. Yezzi's poem "The Call" was included in ''

The Best American Poetry 2006 ''The Best American Poetry 2006'', a volume in ''The Best American Poetry series'', was edited by David Lehman (general editor), and poet Billy Collins, guest editor. The volume received some negative reviews. A review in the '' RATTLE'' by G. Tod ...

'' and "Minding Rites" appeared in ''

The Best American Poetry 2012 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. In December 2008, ''Azores'' was chosen as a ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' magazine "Best Book of 2008." In 2015, ''Birds of the Air'' was a finalist for the

Poets' Prize The Poets' Prize is awarded annually for the best book of verse published by a living American poet two years prior to the award year. The $3000 annual prize is donated by a committee of about 20 American poets, who each nominate two books and who ...

Bibliography

Poetry collections

*
More Things in Heaven
' (Measure Press, 2022), 156 pages, *

' (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2018), poetry, 74 pages, *

' (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2013), poetry, 90 pages, *
Azores
' (Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 2008), poetry, 56 pages, *
The Hidden Model
' (TriQuarterly/Northwestern University Press, 2003), poetry, 96 pages,

Chapbooks

* ''Two Ranges ertical' by Ernest Hilbert and David Yezzi (Nemean Lion Press, 2013), hand-sewn, signed-limited concertina book * ''Tomorrow & Tomorrow'', with an afterword by Denis Donoghue (Exot Books, 2012), * ''Such Root Satisfaction, 3 X 5'' 'Three by David Yezzi, Five by Ernest Hilbert''(Nemean Lion Press, 2010) * ''A Fletching of Hackles: Fresh Verse by Ernest Hilbert and David Yezzi'' (Nemean Lion Press, 2009) * ''Sad Is Eros'' (Aralia Press, 2003)

Anthologies (edited)

*
The Swallow Anthology of New American Poets
' (Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 2009), poetry, 376 pages, ;List of poems

Plays

*
Schnauzer: A Play In One Act
' (EXOT Books, 2019), Play-In-Verse, 82 pages,

Libretti

* His libretto for a new chamber opera by composer David Conte, ''Firebird Motel'', premiered in 2003 and was released on CD by Arsis.

References

External links

Biographical sketch of Yezzi at the 92nd Street Y Web site, also available on a Google cache a

"An Expert on Human Failings" brief article
on

Anthony Hecht Anthony Evan Hecht (January 16, 1923 – October 20, 2004) was an American poet. His work combined a deep interest in form with a passionate desire to confront the horrors of 20th century history, with the Second World War, in which he fought, an ...

in ''The New York Times Book Review''
"Bacon's Theater of the Absurd"
on the paintings of

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

in ''The New Criterion''
"The Amis Country"
on the poetry of

Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social an ...

in ''The New Criterion''
"Cough"

"False Fire"

"Acceptance Speech"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yezzi, David Poets from New York (state) American magazine editors Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni Writers from Albany, New York Writers from New York City 1966 births Living people Columbia University School of the Arts alumni American male poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American male writers American opera librettists 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers The Atlantic (magazine) people