The News

by Jeffrey Brown

Overview

Emmy-award winning journalist Jeffrey Brown explores the intersections between politics and poetry in his debut book The News. From a high-security prison in Arizona to a West Point classroom to a slum in Haiti, Brown's poems share the perspectives of inmates, cadets, and survivors. Brown's voice is introspective and compassionate as he addresses both the "news from home" and natural disasters that cause large-scale suffering. In Brown's own words, poetry is an "accounting of what it means to be alive in this world," and his work unites the "often disconnected worlds of news and poetry."

Headlines 1

"Bomb Explodes in a Crowded Market"

Winds blow, my friends are scattered

"Dow Falls on Jobs Numbers"
I add and add and it doesn't add up

"President to Address the Nation"
I seek a way out, a way in – away

"White Smoke: Habemus Papam"
I turned for a moment – where did she go?

"U.S. Demands End to Cyber Attacks"
I've forgotten every book I've read

"Detroit: Crisis Born of Bad Decisions"
This is the life I choose now

Jeffrey Brown is the chief correspondent for arts, culture, and society at PBS NewsHour. His work has taken him all over the world as he searches for the connections between news and poetry. He is the creator and host of "Art Beat," which is NewsHour's online arts and culture blog. As a producer and correspondent, his work has earned him an Emmy the Cine Golden Eagle. He lives in Washington, DC.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781619321304
Publisher:	Copper Canyon Press
Publication date:	05/18/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	80
File size:	492 KB

About the Author

Emmy award-winning journalist, Jeffrey Brown is the Chief Correspondent for Arts, Culture, and Society at PBS the NewsHour. He has interviewed countless artists and writers in addition to reporting from the field. His work has taken him all over the world, from Haiti to Myanmar as he searches for the connections between news and poetry. He is the creator and host of “Art Beat,” which is the NewsHour’s online arts and culture blog. As a producer and a correspondent, his work has earned him an Emmy, five Cine Golden Eagle Awards, and other honors. In 2014, he traveled across the country with Natasha Trethewey, former Poet Laureate of the United States, for the PBS NewsHour special poetry series “Where Poetry Lives.” He lives in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Foreword Robert Pinsky xi

Dedication 3

Part 1 Nightly News

Nightly News 7

Song: Lead Story 8

Haiti 10

Beirut 11

Joplin 13

Headlines 1 15

News Flow 16

West Point 17

Rain Shadow Review 19

Campaign 2012 21

European Union 24

Intervention 25

Song of the News 26

Part 2 Questions

The Art of the Interview 29

Philip Roth 31

Taha Muhammad Ali 32

Mark Morris 34

Headlines 2 36

Richard Avedon 37

Gore Vidal 38

Suzanne Farrell: September 10, 2001 39

Brice Marden 41

Neanderthal 42

Museum of Modern Art 44

Night 45

Interview 46

Part 3 The News from Home

Letters to the Editor 51

Voice 53

The Influence of Anxiety 55

Sam Brown 57

Side Effects 59

Television: An Argument 60

Headlines 3 62

Memory 63

Succession 65

The News inside His Head 67

Channel One: Guide 69

Cortona 71

Forecast 72

Part 4 The News at Midnight

Theater of War 75

Honor Roll 77

History 82

Obituary 83

Poetry and Prose 85

Haiti: Kacite 86

Afterword 87

Acknowledgments 94

About the Author 95

Editorial Reviews

05/18/2015
Brown, a correspondent on PBS NewsHour, records the sentiments of a life spent in TV news in his debut collection. Sardonic, excited, appalled, or simply exhausted, the spare, honest poems at first tell “the story we know to be true.” Brown reported from Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, Beirut during civil war in Lebanon (“Hezbollah by day, Dunkin’ Donuts at night”), and Wisconsin during “Campaign 2012” (as one poem is titled), where “there are twenty-three voters/ yet to make up their minds.” When the headlines recede, Brown’s poetry turns to the old age and death of his father, in a series marked by a moving restraint: “One morning state police/ escort us to your grave/ the next my flight is canceled.// Maintenance issues breaking/ out all over.” Brown’s winning afterword sets the “greedy monster” of his day job beside the avocation of verse—not the same as reportage, but not quite separate from it either. His clear poems blend familiar self-accusation with forthright defenses of his trade: such writing will hold the interest of readers who want to know more about broadcast journalism and the thoughts of a broadcast journalist—one who has done much to put present-day verse prominently on the small screen. (May)

Publishers Weekly