Poetry society awards more big prizes

CHICAGO, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- The newly rich Poetry Foundation has awarded two more large prizes to American poets, one who has been under-recognized and another a former U.S. poet laureate.

The prizes, announced this week by John Barr, president of the foundation, were for $50,000, awarded to obscure New York poet Samuel Menashe, 79, and for $25,000, awarded as the Mark Twain Award for humorous poetry to former laureate Billy Collins.

The foundation previously awarded its $100,000 Ruth Lilly Prize for poetic excellence to Kay Ryan.

The awards are part of the foundation's mission to bring more attention to American poetry. Its efforts were revitalized by a $100 million gift made by Lilly, an Indiana pharmaceutical heiress, in 2002. Barr said the foundation would give prizes regularly, though not necessarily annually. The award to Menasche carries a commitment from the Library of America to publish a volume of his work.

Menasche, who has published several volumes of poetry and contributed to leading magazines, described winning the prize as "unbelievable, to have a New York publisher after so many years of unsuccessful hunting on the streets of Manhattan,"