. I enjoyed the prefaces and many of the poems in this collection—actually one of the best of this series that I have read. Poems I particularly admired include Coffee by Matthew Dickman, August Notebook: A Death by Robert Hass, Having Intended to Merely Pick on an Oil Company, the Poem Goes Awry by Bob Hicok, The Funeral Sermon by Andrew Hudgins, Narcissus by Major Jackson, Notebooks by Alison Joseph, Word by Jude Nutter, Pillow Talk by Jeni Olin, Motown Crown by Patricia Smith, The Afterlife b...

I thought for a long time about whether I wanted to review this or if I had the capacity to do so. I feel like there are hordes of poetry fans and critical readers who are waiting in the wings to tell me I’m an idiot and that I don’t understand poetry. Anthologies are always hit and miss for people--it’s near impossible to contain something meaningful to every reader but this collection had enough poems that truly hit it out of the park for me that I felt I should at least write something about

I really appreciate what the annual Best American Poetry tries to do. One poet is given the honor/task of selecting poems published in various publications (books/journals) during the previous year. I have never read one from end to end, but have perused them, reading what I was interested in. I actually read this one just past halfway. I bowled my way through a couple selections, but thought most were accessible (i.e. not too post-modern.)It could perhaps be argued that Young played it a little...

Interesting how the flavor of 10 years ago comes through here. Worth the read for many, if not all.

Like most "general" anthologies, this one was rather hit-or-miss. I found lots of poems I loved and a number of poems I found absolutely no worth in. There is typically little to no continuity in between adjacent poems, but this isn't really surprising given that the anthology is organized alphabetically by author's last name. As a "general" anthology, it was a success, bringing up some previously unknown names to watch for and introducing me to some very enjoyable individual poems.Some of my fa...

Finished. I liked this year's effort slightly better than the last few, but not enough to bump it up a star. Part of the reason for this is that Young invests a lot of pages on long poems I didn't particularly like. As always, Series Editor, David Lehman, starts things off with a 10 page Forward to Kevin Young's 6 page Introduction. I've stopped reading Lehman's junk. I just find him a Look-At-Me windbag. Young's Intro sets the table, but a little misleadingly, mentioning the economic crisis --

I love these books. I have read most of them. People's tastes in poetry vary so widely that there will never be any consensus about what constitutes the "best." That's the advantage of having a different guest editor for each issue. Usually, if you like the work of the guest editor, you will like that editors picks. I do enjoy reading Kevin Young's work, so I found many of the poems in this anthology moving and/or memorable. They are, for the most part, what they call "accessible." I appreciate

I learned from this class on Creative Writing that it takes a very special poem to hook me into getting invested, into sinking rereads and interpretations into a purposely sparse literary form. This book has some of those poems! Purposeful, modern, emotional, engaging. It also has a whole lot that I didn't really give a hoot about.

Some powerful poems in this collection, along with several that made me wonder (along with some of my students) how these poets ever published a poem let alone got published in "The Best American Poetry." I realize editors' tastes differ from readers and that, even if one doesn't like a poem per se you can still find the craft in it, but there were a few that were so vapid and bizarre that neither the content nor the craft was engaging. Paul Muldoon, are you from outerspace? However, Sherman Ale...

Overall, I would give this collection a B average (technically an 86.1% avg.) 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...

Much better than 2010;s. More down to earth, visceral, imaginative without being too too coy as in 2010 BAP. Hooray for having better poetry and keeping my attention far more than before. Still, I wish I could love nearly all the poems instead of say...half. Poetry can't be to all of our liking though. Fairly good edition, the editor outdid himself I would say.

I've been reading this anthology since 1998; I found this installment to be really accessible. Of course, some poems I could care less about, others I loved, but I found Young was fairly generous in the breadth of the selection. There isn't anything too avant in it, but there's a largeness of spirit to many of the poems that I enjoyed, and I also appreciated that there was a diverse array of writers: young, people of color, older, established, new, etc.

There are a few really wonderful poems here and a lot more that are not so wonderful -- and many that I'm sure many people would say, not even good. The catch, of course, is that what I think were the good ones may not be the ones you'd pick. Ain't it the truth? I seem to have a bias against long poems, so wouldn't even try to comment on them. Weirdly, I thought that most of the poems whose authors' last names begin with P were quite good (e.g., Pankey, Pierce, Pollitt, Pratt). Also liked Armant...

this is the second book I read of this series dating back to 1986 I believe.and as a poetry lover, and an amateur poet it was absolutely mesmerizing.it shows you the roams and extents of creativity and beauty modern poetry can be, it extends to endless topics and fields and as laid out in the most creative original ways, and it was a pleasure to read.it is emotional it is unique and it is just a plain great experience especially for young poets such as my self to see the diversity at witch poetr...

My first experience with the "Best American Poetry" series was pleasant enough. I liked a handful of poems and plan to look up their poets' works. There is plenty of variety and most of the poems are quite short, which makes for an eclectic experience.My favorites were:Billy Collins' "Here and There"Jennifer Grotz's "Poppies"James Richardson's "Even More Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays from Vectors 3.0"Stephen Yesner's "Cycladic Idyll: An Apologia"

I read this yearly anthology as much for the foreword (David Lehman) and the introduction by the guest editor (Kevin Young, 2011) as I do for the poems. Erika Meitner's poem, "Elegy with Construction Sounds, Water, Fish," stands out as exceptional, along with Alan Feldman's "In November," Sherman Alexie's "Valediction," and Natasha Tretheway's "Elegy."Patricia Smith's "Motown Crown" is easily my favorite. I don't generally enjoy overly long poems-this one ran 7 pages-but it caught my attention f...

One of the only Best American Poetries I've read in one sitting. It was nice to see a collection of work from younger authors, many born in the '60s, '70s and even the '80s. I also appreciated seeing some names I've long thought should get more recognition, including Allison Joseph. There are some nice, thought provoking pieces in here, my favorite being Cara Benson's 'Banking.' This installment also has the distinction of containing a long poem I actually think was worth the space (Robert Hass'...

For a "best" anthology, this volume felt decidedly average to me.Interesting thing I've realized over the last few volumes: I tend to like poems by poets with last names later in the alphabet, apparently.Favorites from this include: Natasha Trethewey, David Wojahn, Patricia Smith, and Alan Michael Parker. Trethewey and Smith both blew me away with their poems presented here. Awesome stuff.

This book introduced me to so many great poets and that's exactly what an anthology should do, rather than become a house of the dead, where the traditional names come to set up residence. Kevin Young deserves much praise for creating much order and thematic alignment in this text. If you get this, read Patricia Smith's "Motown" poem. It's magical!

Usually all that I ask for in a poetry anthology is to be introduced to a couple of new writers, a handful of interesting voices begging to be heard, ones that meet me halfway to my personality but also pull me in new directions. In this collection I can only say that were were five such people that hooked me: Elizabeth Alexander, Jaswinder Bolina, Terrance Hayes, James Richardson, and Stephen Yesser. There were several others who were also good, but none that stood out as prominently in my mind...