From the Directory of Poetry Publishers
25th Edition, 2009-2010

One of the things I ask editors in the annual survey form from which this directory of poetry publishers is compiled is to name five poets whom that editor has published recently. Of course there are many ways to measure a poet’s popularity. This is just one of them.

I’ve been compiling this list and calling it the “Sweepstakes” for twenty-two years now and each year the list comes out slightly different from the year before. This year Virgil Suarez of Tallahassee, Florida came in first and Lyn Lifshin of Vienna, Virginia second. Lifshin held the top spot on this list for almost twenty years until Suarez overtook her a few years ago.

As you can see Jim Daniels, new to this list last year, has surged into third place.

The frequency curve of statistical distribution continues to reflect the very populism of poetry in this age. The curve is a long, flat one with the poets named most often getting 34 entries out of more than five thousand. As far as this directory and these responses are concerned, no single poet holds the national attention.

--Len Fulton, 2009

The top ten entries go like this:

Rank    Poet   (Entries)

1       Virgil Suarez (34)
2       Lyn Lifshin (33)
3       Jim Daniels (17)

4       Denise Duhamel (15)
4       Albert Goldbarth (15)
4       Bob Hicok (15)

5       Billy Collins (14)
5       John Grey (14)
5       W. S. Merwin (14)

6       B.Z. Niditch (13)
6       A.D. Winans (13)