Customer Reviews

Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I just got a copy of this book this morning and I've been reading it all day: all my favorite younger poets are here, including Pimone Triplett, Andrew Feld, Robin Schiff, and Major Jackson, and a lot of other interesting folk I hadn't heard of before. Just read an absolutely chilling love poem by Josh Bell, who is a new name for me. My first reaction is I couldn't recommend this anthology more highly. I love that David Berman from the Silver Jews has poems in here.

I'm not sure how mikemike defines a Hispanic or Latino poet, but Richard Blanco was born in Spain and is of Cuban descent, Monica de la Torre was born in Mexico City and came to America in 1993, and Sabrina Orah Mark was born in Mexico. This is all in author bio notes in the book. You should do a little fact-checking before you start making accusations.

It should come as no surprise that a book called Legitimate Dangers would have a somewhat volatile effect. The world of poetry can often be a craven, petty, and divisive little industry, where people are more interested in attacking a new anthology than editing their own or actually writing a few good poems themselves. As someone who isn't part of any poetry coterie or underworld but who consumes as many books of poetry a year as I can stomach, I actually purchased this anthology and read it.

Many of the poems in here are fantastic. While the writers assembled have diverse aesthetic preferences (from the jazzy to the more formal, from the punky and edgy to the eloquent and mellifluous), for the most part, the poems themselves are meditative, lush, unsettling, and ambitious. Why pick on this particular anthology of younger poets and not another one? Have you read the book or are you merely disappointed that your friend's name isn't on the table of contents? William James said, "A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices." How many other anthologies are out there who are equally eager to introduce the general readership to the avant-garde stylings of Joshua Beckman, Christine Hume, Lisa Jarnot, and Joyelle McSweeney and to the clearly more traditional poems of Rick Barot, Spencer Reece, and Greg Williamson in the same volume?

This is not a comprehensive, democratic anthology, and it shouldn't be--it's already 500 pages long for crying out loud. If you read this book, chances are you'll discover some poems you like more than others. I did. That's true of any collection. This one happens to be filled to the brim with beautiful new writing. Is that such a bad thing?

Finally, an anthology that takes a long hard look at the work of a new generation of poets. This is a handsome book showcasing a mix of writers. Some long established like Natasha Trethewey, Kevin Young, and Nick Flynn. Others including Monica De La Torre and Sherwin Bitsui are on the rise. I especially love the author photos--who doesn't want to know what these writers look like. It'll make it easier for me to spot them at AWP. Sarabande should be commended.

Maybe I am not so smart as some of the people here on Amazon, but I think this is a great book, and even more especially, I think it is a great title. I really like how they call the poets Dangers because it sounds exciting. And you know what? it is exciting. Maybe dangers is normally not a good thing like signs that say DANGER you usually don't want to go there, but here it is like a trick because you want to go there. To the danger. But maybe it is the poems that are dangers. But it doesn't really matter. These are great poems. And great poets. And sometimes they are like dangers. I only don't give it 5 stars because it is a little bit long for a book.

This book reminds me of the Poulin anthology. It seems to start where the Poulin leaves off, providing a look at the poets much too young and new to be included in any of Poulin's editions. Some of the writers in here are among the most notorious in their generation, the ones that seem to be winning honor after honor, but the book has some surprises as well: interesting poets I read for the first time include Sabrina Mark, Lisa Jarnot, and Julianne Buchsbaum. A lot of the bigger names too: Nick Flynn, Kevn Young, Natasha Trethewey. Some surprise omissions, but that's true of all anthologies. All in all, a pretty good intro to the poets who are probably well-known to many of their peers but not to us older folk. Definitely has more experimental poems than a lot of the big anthologies, but there's also a surprising number of writers using meter.

Legitimate Dangers: American Poets Of The New Century is an anthology of innovative, and exciting poetry. All the poets whose works were selected were born after 1960, did not publish their first book before 1995, and have no more than three books published. Though diverse in individual background and the manner in which they approach the craft of poetry, each has a unique voice and tone contributing to a singularly memorable and original omnibus. A black-and-white photograph of each poet precedes the selection of his or her works. Enthusiastically recommended for poetry lovers in search of fresh inspiration. Ars Poetica (the idea) by Dana Levin: would it wake the drowned out of their anviled sleep- / would it slip the sun like a coin behind their eyes- // The idea, the teacher said, was that there was a chaos / left in matter - a little bit of not-yet in everything that was- // so the poets became interested in fragments, interruptions- / the little bit of saying lit by the unsaid- // was it a way to stay alive, a way to keep hope, / leaving things unfinished? // as if in complete a sentence there was death-

Nothing could be more obvious in reading reviews of a book that's barely hit the bookstores (and probably a half dozen bookstores at that) that those attacking it are jealous poets whipping themselves in a fury because they haven't been invited to join the party.

Well, I've looked at the book, and it has many good moments. Having said that, I'm not especially optimistic about the future of American poetry if these are the poets we can expect to see a lot more of in coming years. But that's just my taste, and maybe they'll get better. I was relieved, at least, not to see the mountains upon mountains of unreadable post-modern word-puzzles and jokey free-associations that seem to dominate so many of the literary journals and other books out there.

I have no illusion that this book really represents anything but a small segment of the younger poets working these days, and I see no reason why an editor shouldn't cobble together a sample of work by their friends and publish it if that's what they feel like doing. At least the editors aren't lazy.

"How does one communicate the intersection of life and the imagination"? By asking one's friends to communicate it, that's how! It's true, much of this line up reads like a veritable who's who of literary contest cheating and quid pro quo poets--people adept at schmoozing, not necessarily writing. There are some good ones in the bunch. Still, I must concur with Jimmy (below)--this book's net was not cast so wide, and hit mostly the AWP careerists.

What's most fun about this book are bound to be the reviews. Take the bottom of this list, for starters: "Oregon Poet", in his or her sole Amazon review, comes out in praise of Andrew Feld and Pimone Triplett. Feld and Triplett are married poets residing in Oregon. Feld's sole book was the result of a contest win--a contest judged by his wife's coworker! Is this the same Amazon reviewer who penned the Best Younger Poets list, a list that included, exclusively, Feld, Feld's classmates, and those who are married to Feld? My guess is yes.

But what do I know? I'm just a kid.

This is a beautiful-looking book, and I'm glad, because I can't put it down and have been carrying it around with me for two days and reading a new poet every chance I get.

Because I'm sort of new to reading and writing poetry, I can't pretend like I understand everything I have read in here, but the poems I like best make me question how I know what I know about them and what I feel after I've read them. I think a good poem is one that makes me react in a visceral way to it, like, A. Van Jordan's "Kind of Blue" or Major Jackson's "Euphoria." These poems make me think about things they don't mention, like darkness, cold, alienation, and despair, but also are often funny, warm, and occasionally sexy. To be honest, I do struggle to understand some of the poems, yet each feels important to the anthology as a whole.

Just because I don't "get" it immediately doesn't lessen its worth; it just makes me want to read it again. For instance, when I'm done with this review, I'm going to reread "The Elegant Tongue" by Terrance Hayes.

Every literary occasion will have its detractors, but I'm grateful to have the chance to read so many poems by writers I hadn't heard of before and will never forget.