From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In the 19th installment of this annual series, former poet laureate Collins (
The Trouble with Poetry, 2005), one of America's most popular poets ever, has culled the typical handful of big names and some surprising new voices from more than 50 American literary publications. Collins's predilections for accessibility, humor and tidy forms are evident, but there are also surprises. Usual suspects—former
Best American editors Ashbery (who surprises with a poem in neatly rhymed couplets), Hass, Simic, Tate and Muldoon, as well as Mary Oliver—meet rising masters like Kay Ryan ("A bird's/ worth of weight/ or one bird-weight/ of Wordsworth"), Vijay Seshadri and Franz Wright. Most interesting, however, is the chance each volume offers to see which up-and-comers make the cut. This year's roster includes edgy poems by Joy Katz, Danielle Pafunda ("my hair cramped with sexy"), Terrance Hayes, and Christian Hawkey ("O my/ beloved shovel-nosed mole"), among others. Collins's surprising and opinionated introduction—in which he admits that, unlike some of series editor David Lehman's previous guest editors, "the designation 'best' doesn't bother me," and offers his definition of a good poem (often one that "starts in the factual" and displays "a tone of playful irreverence")—may cause some controversy.
(Sept.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
Going strong since 1988, each volume in this excellent series is distinct. This year Collins, America's funniest, slyest, and most diabolically charismatic poet, takes the helm, prompting series editor Lehman to write an unusually frank foreword in which he measures the gap between Collins' great popularity with readers and the venomous criticism of his peers. Collins follows with an introduction in which he asserts that the most "alive and immediate poems . . . combine an acute awareness of tradition with a unique freshness of voice." Given the high-wire acrobatics of his own work, it's no surprise that Collins selected 75 vital and imaginative poems, many evincing "playful irreverence." There's Denise Duhamel's "Please Don't Sit Like a Frog, Sit Like a Queen"; Amy Gerstler's hilarious missive to a rebellious six-year-old on being boiled alive; Rachel Hadas citing Seuss, not Zeus; Bob Hicok at the movies; Kay Ryan on thin ice; and Mary Jo Salter asking, "Who says science fiction / is only set in the future?" Poetry writ large.
Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
See all Editorial Reviews