The Best American Poetry (Best American Poetry)

The latest installment of the yearly anthology of contemporary American poetry that has achieved brand-name status in the literary world.

"This year's volume of poetry's most popular annual anthology contains the usual eclectic mix of famous and up-and-coming poets; Young, this year's editor, is in fact among the series' youngest, though he is himself as well known as any of the other editors have been. His picks are all over the aesthetic map; there's no better way to show them than to quote lines, so here goes: poetry fans will recognize names like Robert Pinsky (who describes a horn, probably a sax, as 'the golden trophy. The true addiction') and Carolyn Forche ('The water shimmers with imaginary fish') and will be delighted to meet relative newcomers such as Jaswinder Bolina ('I am grateful for the man now nuzzling with my ex-lover') and Farrah Field ('No one here has visited a functional hospital'). Wonderful, too, are the aphorisms of James Richardson ('How proud we are of our multitasking. What is Life but something to get off our desks, cross off our lists?') and the sonnets of Olena Kalytiak Davis ('fuck! I have two loves too, i really do'). There are also several-page poems by the likes of Robert Hass and Paul Muldoon, for those with concentration to spare. As ever, there is something for every poetry lover, as well as for readers who might not yet know they love poetry. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

  The latest installment of the yearly anthology of contemporary American poetry that has achieved brand-name status in the literary world.

Poetry phenomenon Kevin Young and renowned series editor David Lehman present the 2011 edition of the Best American Poetry series—“a ‘best’ anthology that really lives up to its title” ( Chicago Tribune ).

With its high-profile editorship, the Best American Poetry series continues to be, as Robert Pinsky says, “as good a comprehensive overview of contemporary poetry as there can be.”

Lucille Clifton praised Kevin Young’s “gift of storytelling and understanding of the music inherent in the oral tradition of language [which] re-creates for us an inner history that is compelling and authentic and American.” Young’s own highly original, vivid, bluesy sensibility informs the poems in the 2011 edition of The Best American Poetry . Representing the wealth, the breadth, and the tremendous energy of poetry in the United States today, this edition features poems from some of our country’s most beloved poets, including Carolyn Forche, Sherman Alexie, Billy Collins, and Richard Wilbur, and exciting poems from a constellation of rising stars: Terrance Hayes, Rae Armantrout, Natasha Trethewey, and Jennifer Knox among them.

Eagerly anticipated by scholars, students, readers, and poets alike, Scribner’s Best American Poetry series has achieved brand-name status in the literary world, and the 2011 volume will inspire a wide spectrum of poetry lovers everywhere.

David Lehman is the editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry and the author of seven books of poetry, including When a Woman Loves a Man. He lives in New York City.