About Campbell McGrath
Campbell John McGrath (born January 26, 1962) is an American poet. He is the author of twelve full-length collections of poetry, including Seven Notebooks (Ecco Press, 2008), Shannon: A Poem of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Ecco Press, 2009), In the Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys (Ecco Press, 2012), and XX: Poems for the Twentieth Century (Ecco Press, 2016), for which McGrath was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. While primarily known as a poet, McGrath has also written a play, The Autobiography of Edvard Munch (produced by Concrete Gothic Theater, Chicago, 1983); a libretto for Orlando Garcia's experimental video opera Transcending Time (premiered at the New Music Biennalle, Zagreb, Croatia, 2009); collaborated with the video artist John Stuart on the video/poetry piece 14 Views of Miami (premiered at The Wolfsonian, Miami, 2008); and translated the Aristophanes play The Wasps for the Penn Greek Drama Series.McGrath has been recognized by some of the most prestigious American poetry awards, including the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award (for Spring Comes to Chicago, his third book of poems), a Pushcart Prize, the Academy of American Poets Prize, a Ploughshares Cohen Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, and a MacArthur Foundation Genius Award. In 2011, he was named a Fellow of United States Artists. In 2017, McGrath was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, along with Adrienne Rich.
Browse all poems and texts published on Campbell McGrath
The shape that poems make in the mind is an echo of something powerful in the cosmos. I do believe that, and that is certainly irrational, so perhaps I am no wiser than Elizabeth Perkins as to the nature of poetry.
