Best American Poetry 2002 - Softcover
Since its inception in 1988, The Best American Poetry series has achieved brand-name status in the literary world as the preeminent showcase of each year's most important contributions to American poetry. Arriving at a time when, as series editor David Lehman writes in his foreword, the hunger for poetry and the need for elegy is great, this year's volume demonstrates poetry's astonishing vitality, its ability to move and inspire us in a way no other medium can. As do the previous volumes in this esteemed series, The Best American Poetry 2002 spotlights the work of today's most innovative and talented poets. The pleasure of the poems selected here, editor Robert Creeley explains in his introduction, is that they caught my fancy, some almost outrageously, some by their quiet, nearly diffident manner, some by unexpected turns of thought or insight, others by a confident authority and intent. Reflecting Creeley's standing as a figure revered across the wide spectrum of American poetry, this exceptional anthology features a diverse mix of established masters such as Adrienne Rich, John Ashbery, and Charles Wright; rising stars like Anne Carson, Carl Phillips, and Rae Armantrout; and the leading lights of a younger generation, such as Anselm Berrigan, Jenny Boully, and Maggie Nelson. With comments from the poets elucidating their work, a thought-provoking introduction from Creeley, and Lehman's always popular foreword assessing the current state of poetry, The Best American Poetry 2002 will prove as irresistible to new readers as it is indispensable for poetry fans everywhere.
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About the Author:
Robert Creeley was born in Arlington, Massachusetts in 1926. In the 1950s he taught at Black Mountain College and edited The Black Mountain Review. Since 1966 he has taught at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Creeley was New York State Poet from 1989 to 1991, and his many volumes of poetry include For Love, Pieces, and Memory Gardens. He lives in Buffalo, New York, and in Waldoboro, Maine.
From Publishers Weekly:
This installment of the venerable series is refreshing for what it isn't: a compendium of September 11 poems. In fact, Creeley, selected by series editor David Lehman to sit in the revolving editor's chair, makes no mention of 9/11 in his six-page introduction, while Lehman's own seven-page performance is split between a paean to poet laureate Billy Collins and a discussion of September 11's poetic effects, with one paragraph devoted to the choice of Creeley. Yet Creeley's own choice of poems is balanced and satisfying, providing space for contemplation, while opening a rare window on dissent. Along with fine poems from John Ashbery, Frank Bidart, Anne Carson, W.S. Merwin, Sharon Olds, Carl Phillips and Charles Wright, we get Amiri Baraka's "The Golgotha Local" ("But if you understood, the entire question, the pause, the certain ugliness/ Of what you see, if between they legs you got to look, if you is ruled by thief and/ crook. If you is more than what you be..."), a powerful Alice Notley elegy, Benjamin Friedlander's "Independence Day" ("Let freedom bling/ Bling, Shaq. Like/ A dripping popsicle torn in half"), Steve Malmude's "Perfect Front Door" and Mong-Lan's epic "Trail": "what is the remedy for momentum for mania for a deciduous heart?" These and many other poems here will challenge readers to find their own remedies.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherDemco Media
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 0606247890
- ISBN 13 9780606247894
- BindingPaperback
- Rating
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