Daily Horoscope

when reading gioia's first collection, you can't help but wonder if he is overrated. he is one of the most celebrated of the new formalists, and one of the leaders of the movement. you hear over and over how good he is. he is the writer of the "can poetry matter" essay. and, since he is outside the world of academia, you can't help but to think of other poets outside the academic world (wallace stevens and william carlos williams come to mind immediately). so you wonder if the guy is overrated. he's not. he writes formal verse beautifully. he has good control over the meter and line. "The Room Upstairs", easily one of the best poems in the collection, and my personal favorite, shows gioia's skill as a poet. i look forward to reading the other collections i have.