The University of North Carolina Press
476 pages
February 2025
Founded in 1933 near Asheville, North Carolina, Black Mountain College fostered experimentation and interdisciplinary learning, placing the arts at the heart of its curriculum. As such, the college was home to and served as inspiration for many modern and postmodern American poets. Some of them, including Charles Olson, Robert Creeley, and Denise Levertov, appeared in Donald Allen’s groundbreaking New American Poetry anthology published in 1960, later becoming part of the American poetry canon. However, many writers affiliated with Black Mountain College have been overlooked. The Anthology of Black Mountain College Poetry features over fifty poets selected with an expansive historical and critical lens, including those not typically considered as poets, such as composer John Cage, architect Buckminster Fuller, and visual artist Josef Albers. Many years in the making, this book presents the clearest picture of the poetry and poetics of Black Mountain College yet.