The Best American Poetry

by David Lehman and Heather McHugh

Book Overview

Celebrated poet McHugh and renowned editor Lehman present the 20th edition of the popular and comprehensive Best American Poetry series. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743299736
• ISBN13: 9780743299732
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 169 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Surface and depth

I assisted a stoneworker once in the construction of a foundation. From a large pile of stones he was adept at quickly finding those which the wall required, the shape of substance equal to the shape of absence, soon filled. He said it was largely a matter of having scanned the available material and letting his unconscious mind direct him to a conscious, and mostly correct, choice. Of course, in using language, we do something similar, swiftly rummaging through the word hoard for the thing we wish to say, hoping it will be solid, and something to build on. Heather McHugh delves into the matter itself, its interstices, gaps, and echoes, and into the material of what we mean, and are often unconscious of. The effect can be disquieting, calling the solid into question, shaking the foundation. Attention and alertness are required to read her work, and they are also the reward. The fort in comfort falls, and sometimes, in the landscape that was blocked, the delight of uncertainty and insecurity is revealed, if we are willing to stand it. So I think McHugh selected poems for the Best American Poetry 2007 with something like this in mind. Are all of them best, or even better? Probably not. Some require more unraveling than I have patience for, some are indulgent, others seek to dazzle but tend to dizzy. That said, I have found the best way to read the book is here and there, now and then, to let accidents have their way with me. "Only surfaces interest me," writes Amit Majmudar in one of my favorite poems. "What depths I sound I sound by accident". But accidents, I think McHugh would agree, and the apparently random, favor the awakened mind.

a welcome addition to the series

I've found many of the BAP series to be highly dissapointing. But it is hard to select a best of when it comes to poetry. It really depends on what you like to read. Now, there are some truly awful poems in here, and I'm not sure McHugh was the best choice as an editor, but she really picked some great poems. Sure about a quarter of them are awful, but most are readable or good. And then there are the great ones: Geffrey Brock, Galway Kinnell, Marya Rosenberg, David Shumate, Brian Turner, Charles Harper Webb and Joe Wenderoth. If you love poetry, you've gotta get this one.

best american poetry

i was -pleased with the quick delivery and goon condition of the product thanks don

Great Anthology in a Great Series

This anthology, chosen by Heather McHugh, is filled with sharp, intelligent poems that bend langauge into sterling gems. A poem about John Brown is worth the entire collection. I so appreciate the poets' comments at the back of the book, which illuminate something of each poem's genesis. What a wonderful read!!

A strange discovery among the mediocrity

I was only browsing through this volume at the bookstore and about to put it aside when I came upon a weirdly erotic, disturbing and rather wonderful poem by Helen Ransom Forman. I couldn't find any of her work anywhere else until I found the Michigan Quarterly Review in which her poems were mistakenly published and attributed to her father, John Crow Ransom, a critic. Helen Forman is 86 years old! And she's worth ferreting out! I don't know if she's still writing, but I'm surprised no one has published her.