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b_p's review
1.0
Overall, I would give this collection a C- average (technically a 72.7% average) as far as the quality of the poems contained. I know that attempting to quantify poetic effect/value is a ridiculous gesture, but I am simply a ridiculous person. Of course, this is purely based off of my own tastes and will not necessarily reflect your average satisfaction rate. I started a mission in October of 2016 to read the entire Best American Poetry series so that I can begin to get a better sense of (A) what my taste in poetry is, and (B) my own poetic voice.
This is the worst edition of Best American Poetry that I have read so far. Besides the gems listed below, the book is not worthwhile for anybody who likes their poetry to be enjoyable and unique. At a recent conference for the Minnesota Council of Teachers of English (I know, a terribly clunky name for a profession that is supposed to teach people how to read good and do other stuff good too), Garrison Keillor spoke about poetry and how when he was young, there were many poets - inspired by Howl - who tried to write poems that channeled Ginsberg's edgy new style. Keillor went on to recite a poem that was willfully obscure with no real meaning. That parody of bad, inscrutable, unrewarding poetry could have easily been one of 30 poems in this collection.
I am by no means against obscure allusions or literary experimentation. My choices below reflect that. However, I am against much of the bland, bloated poetry that comprises the majority of this volume.
Masterpieces (6)
Oni Buchanan, The Walk
Billy Collins, The Centrifuge
Linh Dinh, 13
Harry Mathews, Lateral Disregard
Virgil Suarez, La Florida
James Tate, Bounden Duty
Masterful (7)
Jack Collom, 3-4-00
Rita Dove, All Souls
Jane Hirshfield, Poe: An Assay (I)
Carl Phillips, Pleasure
Bruce Smith, Song of the Ransom of the Dark
Arthur Sze, Acanthus
David Wagoner, Trying to Make Music
Masters Candidates (7)
John Ashbery, Wolf Ridge
Anne Carson, Gnosticism
T.J. Clark, Landscape with a Calm
Michael Davidson, Bad Modernism
John Koethe, To an Audience
K. Silem Mohammad, Mars Needs Terrorists
Edwin Torres, The Theorist Has No Samba!
Overall, I would absolutely to highly recommend approx. 26% of the poems contained in this volume.
This is the worst edition of Best American Poetry that I have read so far. Besides the gems listed below, the book is not worthwhile for anybody who likes their poetry to be enjoyable and unique. At a recent conference for the Minnesota Council of Teachers of English (I know, a terribly clunky name for a profession that is supposed to teach people how to read good and do other stuff good too), Garrison Keillor spoke about poetry and how when he was young, there were many poets - inspired by Howl - who tried to write poems that channeled Ginsberg's edgy new style. Keillor went on to recite a poem that was willfully obscure with no real meaning. That parody of bad, inscrutable, unrewarding poetry could have easily been one of 30 poems in this collection.
I am by no means against obscure allusions or literary experimentation. My choices below reflect that. However, I am against much of the bland, bloated poetry that comprises the majority of this volume.
Masterpieces (6)
Oni Buchanan, The Walk
Billy Collins, The Centrifuge
Linh Dinh, 13
Harry Mathews, Lateral Disregard
Virgil Suarez, La Florida
James Tate, Bounden Duty
Masterful (7)
Jack Collom, 3-4-00
Rita Dove, All Souls
Jane Hirshfield, Poe: An Assay (I)
Carl Phillips, Pleasure
Bruce Smith, Song of the Ransom of the Dark
Arthur Sze, Acanthus
David Wagoner, Trying to Make Music
Masters Candidates (7)
John Ashbery, Wolf Ridge
Anne Carson, Gnosticism
T.J. Clark, Landscape with a Calm
Michael Davidson, Bad Modernism
John Koethe, To an Audience
K. Silem Mohammad, Mars Needs Terrorists
Edwin Torres, The Theorist Has No Samba!
Overall, I would absolutely to highly recommend approx. 26% of the poems contained in this volume.
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