The Best American Poetry 2002 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743203860 ISBN 13: 9780743203869

Publisher: Scribner, 2002

Synopsis

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. This year's exceptional volume, edited by Robert Creeley, a figure revered across teh wide spectrum of American poetry, features a diverse mix of established masters, rising stars and the leading lights of a younger generation. The pleasure of the poems selected here, 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." 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.

About this title

About the Author

David Lehman, the series editor of The Best American Poetry, is also the editor of the Oxford Book of American Poetry. His books of poetry include Poems in the Manner Of, New and Selected Poems, Yeshiva Boys, When a Woman Loves a Man, and The Daily Mirror. He lives in New York City and Ithaca, New York.

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0743203860
• ISBN 13: 9780743203869
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 232
• Editor: Robert Creeley, David Lehman