One of the many things I had in common with my mom-in-law, Page Davidson Clayton,was a love of poetry. So when, after Page’s death, Mac and I were looking for something to do in her honor, we settled on establishing a poetry prize. It’s with both sadness and pleasure that I’m sharing news of the Page Davidson Clayton Prize for Emerging Poets. The prize will be awarded annually by the Michigan Quarterly Review to the best poet appearing in its pages during the prior year who has not yet published a book.
The winner for 2009, announced in the current issue, is Robert Cantoni, whose poems, “Travelogue” and “Ambiguous Statement Alluding Tangentially to the Conceit” appeared in the Fall 2009 special issue on Bookishness: The New Fate of Reading in the Digital Age. In addition to writing thought-provoking poems, Robert teaches at Ohio University. He also plays in a band called ukelele/typewriter, hosts the blog I, Robert, and clearly has as lovely sense of humor – as did Page. I know she’d have been delighted with this choice. – Meg
