American Poets Say Goodbye to the Twentieth Century [Paperback]

Andrei Codrescu (Editor), Laura Rosenthal (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 1996

The editors of this anthology asked more than one hundred American poets from divergent backgrounds and literary traditions the following question: How would you say goodbye to the 20th century? Writers both new and established are represented here, including Paul Auster, Charles Bukowski, Robert Creeley, Allen Ginsberg, Maxine Kumin, Carolyn Kizer, Charles Simic, David Trinidad, and Anne Waldman.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Like the difficult century it attempts to interpret, this anthology proffers alternating does of excitement and tedium, bitter satire and impassioned self-indulgence. The 130-plus poets assembled for this centennial bon voyage?many from the Beat and Language traditions?focus by and large on the least savory aspects of recent history: the Holocaust, AIDS, corporate greed, materialism, victimization, and wars both large and small, no surprise given editor Codrescu's critical views of society as heard regularly on NPR. The result often resembles a slightly better-than-average open-mike night down at the local coffee house. Nevertheless, Robert Creeley, Aimee Grunberger, Molly Peacock, and several others manage admirably to resist the cliches and requisite feeding frenzy on "the saddest of centuries," reminding us that in spite of its seeming failure to achieve Whitman's vision of spiritual progress and enlightenment, our era is no less a human creation and thus remains to some degree a personal one.?Fred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib. Ithaca, N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Goodbye Twentieth Century by Keith George Abbott
Our Holocaust: 2 Hours From Heathrow by Samuel Abrams
The Dawning Zone/the Erupting Parallel Species by Will Alexander
For The Darkling Thrush by William Allen
Some Words, Stories, And People For An Old Century And A New by Jack Anderson
Elegy For A Century Of Aids by Michael Andre
Definition by Bruce Andrews
American History In Context by Antler [pseud.]
Extraterrestrials To Come by Antler [pseud.]
Ave Atque Vale Century Of Xerox by Ivan Arguelles
Between by Mary Rae Armantrout
The Turn by Mary Rae Armantrout
Useless Knowledge by Barbara Barg
Volunteer Basis by Bill Berkson
Low Regrets by Charles Bernstein
For This We Come by John Brandi
Journal Entry, West Of Reno by John Brandi
Terminal Reports: On The Way To The Exit by James Richard Broughton
Dinosauria, We by Charles Bukowski
A Woman Meditates On The Turning Of The Sixtieth Century by Janine Burford Canan
Against 21st Century by Joe Cardarelli
The Glorified Go One By One To Glory by Turner Cassity
Frankly by Maxine Chernoff
On The Brink Of The Cold Millennium by Thomas Willard Clark
Note From Memphis by Lucille Clifton
Au Bout Du Temps by Andrei Codrescu
Contrafact: Three Words About It by Norma Cole
Objet Trouve by Jack Collom
One Man To A Century by Clark Coolidge
Goodbye by Robert Creeley
The Stations Of The Cross, Newly Revised For America In The Twenty-fir by Philip Dacey
From A Reading by Beverly Dahlen
Tidbits, Orbits, Obits by Joel Dailey
So You Leave The Project To Look For Work by Thomas C. Dent
Beyond Subject, Verb, And Object An Open Phrase Keys A Field Similar by George Therese Dickenson
Byzantine Motes by Ray Dipalma
The Final Word Will Always Belong To The Night Watchman by Ray Dipalma
Lullaby; For Stephen King by Stephen Dobyns
One Hundred Fragments For The Twentieth Century by Barbara Ellen Einzig
Dear Reader by Elaine Equi
At The Locks Of Infinity by Clayton Eshleman
A Flight Through Time by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
The Spirit Of '76 by Edward Field
Birthdays & Holidays by David Franks
Firestorm by Kathleen Fraser
From The Editors by Gloria Lynn Frym
Hotel Exelsior Splendide by Gloria Lynn Frym
Maria La O by Barry Gifford
Calm Panic Campaign Promise by Allen Ginsberg
The Tongues We Speak by Patricia Goedicke
Out Of Town by Ted Greenwald
Goodbye To All That by Aimee Grunberger
Spree??? by Jim Gustafson
In Tacoma, Signe Turns 101 In A Blue Velvet Dress by Jana Harris
Marrow by James Harrison
Saint Malthus by William Hathaway
The Chronicle Poet by Michael Heller
West Is Left On The Map by Anselm Hollo
The Collect Call Of The Wild by Bob Holman
As Quietly As Distant by Paul Hoover
The Chiliast by Fanny Howe
Sleeping In An Egg by Rodger Lee Kamenetz
Goodbye by Robert Kelly
An Agenda For Renewal by Jussi Ketonen
Fin-de-siecle Blues by Carolyn Kizer
Still Life by Steve Mark Kowit
After The Poetry Reading; For Marie Howe by Maxine W. Kumin
Rehearsing For The Final Reckoning In Boston by Maxine W. Kumin
Changing Leads by Alex Kuo
Seven Haikus In Advance Of The New Century by Art Lange
Blues For The Evil Empire by Rachel Loden
American Poets Say Goodbye To The Twentieth Century by Jackson Maclow
Horse Says Good-bye (and Good Riddance) To The Twentieth Century by Clarence Major
The Manual For Twentieth-century Man (and Woman) by Morton Jay Marcus
Wing And Prayer by Jack Marshall
They by Richard Martin
Love by Bernadette Mayer
Meteor by C. M. Mayo
The Foam by Michael Thomas Mcclure
Old Reds To This Kid In The Ace Of Knowing by David Meltzer
Hair by Diane Middlebrook
So Long, Twentieth Century by Fred Moramarco
Faith In The Twentieth Century by Stanley Moss
Mr. Twenty by Eileen Myles
No Safety by Elinor Nauen
Vos Bastardi Ride by Jim Nisbet
Hasta La Vista, Baby by Pat Nolan
Ready-made by Harold Norse
The Ballad Of Lyle And Eric by Alicia Suskin Ostriker
Goodbye To The Twentieth Century Or Adios, Busy Signal by Maureen Owen
Autobiography 2 (hellogoodby); For A.c. by Michael Palmer
Goodbye Hello In The East Village by Molly Peacock
From The Front by Bob Perelman
Poet And Century Both Turn Geriatric by Robert Peters
Yearbook by Pam Quinlan
Museum Of Historical Objects by Carl Rakosi
Somewhere Someone Is Making Another by Len Roberts
Music; For Valerie & For Jack Fulton by Kirk Robertson
Twentieth Century Presents by Bob Rosenthal
Memoreyes @aol by Laura Rosenthal
Twentieth Century Unlimited by Jerome Rothenberg
Dedications by Deborah Salazar
From; New Time by Leslie Scalapino
In The Heart Of The Empire The Nightsounds by Harris Schiff
Paradise Motel by Charles Simic
Relatives, Belfast; For Maura Dooley by Dave Smith
This Here by Michael Stephens
Love Me by Gerald Stern
In The Garden by Steven Styers
Large White Spot by Steven Styers
Streamers: 1 by Arthur Sze
Streamers: 2 by Arthur Sze
Streamers: 3 by Arthur Sze
Streamers: 4 by Arthur Sze
Streamers: 5 by Arthur Sze
Streamers: 6 by Arthur Sze
Fin De Siecle by William Talcott
Devotion by Mike Topp
Ancient History by David Trinidad
Unaccountable 2 by Nanos Valaoritis
Greetings From The Year 2000, With Respect by Janine Pommy Vega
Envoy by Paul Randolph Violi
Obit by Anne Waldman
Accidental Number by Keith Waldrop
Metafours Near The End by Jonathan Williams
Futurism Of The Past by Terence Winch
Pearl by Charles Penzel, Jr. Wright
Automatic Transmission by John Yau
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 418 pages
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press; Revised edition (May 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568580681
• ISBN-13: 978-1568580685
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,265,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrei Codrescu (codrescu.com) was born in Sibiu, Transylvania, Romania. His first poetry book "License to Carry a Gun" won the Big Table Poetry award. He founded Exquisite Corpse: a Journal of Books & Ideas (corpse.org), taught literature and poetry at Johns Hopkins University, University of Baltimore, and Louisiana State University where he was MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English. He is a regular commentator on NPR's All Things Considered since 1983, has received a Peabody Award for writing and starring in the film "Road Scholar. In 1989 he returned to his native Romania to cover the fall of the Ceausescu regime for NPR and ABC News, and wrote "The Hole in the Flag: an Exile's Story of Return and Revolution." He is the author of books of poetry, novels, essays; the most recent are "The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess," (2009) "The Poetry Lesson" (2010) and "whatever gets you through the night: a story of sheherezade and the arabian entertainments" (2011), all published by Princeton University Press.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgia avenue, November 27, 2010

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This review is from: American Poets Say Goodbye to the Twentieth Century (Paperback)

A tasty collection of one-time young bloods who made it to century's end, or as good as. The brief was sensibly broad, so there's really no thematic linkage other than a vague sense of 'vale' (that's val-e, as in 'adieu'), but the cast list of (presumably) compilers' mates gives it a nice cosy feel - no Ashbery, for instance (that chilly non-father-figure who looms over the poetic landscape like a slightly grubby glacier...)