Incandescent, illuminating, heart rending. Such amazing writing in this world today. How blessed we are.

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Now available.

Every once in a while, there will be a collection of poems that leaves you breathless, too stunned to speak. This is one of those collections. Each poem is a bullet shot straight to the heart, a ghost that lingers behind you, a spell cast over your mind. Bewitching and beguiling, the collection sings together if only to make you realize that there is, perhaps, some beauty in this cruel world, some measure of love and community admist structural inequities of the day.

"I think of all that I have inherited,
all the bodies buried for me to be here
and stay here, how I was born with grief
and gratitude in my bones"
-- Red Wine Spills by L. Ash Williams

I always enjoy reading such collections because I am introduced to so many wonderful poets but always struggle to give them a rating because of course I won't enjoy each poem. Here is the list of my favorites (other than the ones I quoted):

- Meditations on a Photograph of Historic Rail Women by Warren C. Longmire
- Stone Love by Louise Erdrich
- Divination by Lauren K. Alleyne
- A Smiling Understanding by Stanley Moss
- love poem that ends at popeyes by Destiny O. Birdsong
- women's voting rights at one hundred (but who's counting?) by Evie Shockley
- After Tu Fu by Christopher Buckley
- The Stuff of Astounding: A Golden Shovel for Juneteenth by Patricia Smith
- Ode to the Boy Who Jumped Me by Monica Sok
- Chinese Restaurant Syndrome by Adrienne Su
- Copernicus by Paul Tran
- Blood by Margaret Ross
- Double Major by Major Jackson

"Is memory the best eternity we can make? The only?"
-- The School of Eternities by Chen Chen

What an incredible collection of poetry! I absolutely loved the introduction chapters outlining some history and context for the selections made in this book. One of the things I love most about poetry is its ability to provide a fresh experience each and every time you visit the words of an even very familiar poem, poetry gives joy to its reader over and over again. I have read previous poetry collections over the years and this one was particularly catching. Thank you so much for a chance to read and review this 2021 "Best of American Poetry 2021"

Tracy K. Smith, guest editor, speaks in her introduction of the depth and breadth of the 2020 experience. The poems in this volume convey that in a rich and authentic way.

The Best American Poetry 2021
by David Lehman
Pub Date 01 Dec 2021
Scribner
Poetry



I am reviewing a copy of The Best American Poetry 2021 through Scribner and NetGalley:



The Best American Poetry collection has been “one of the mainstays of the poetry publication world” (Academy of American Poets) since 1988. Every volume presents a choice of the year’s most memorable poems, with comments from the poets themselves lending insight into their work. The guest editor of The Best American Poetry 2021 is Tracy K. Smith, the former United States Poet Laureate, whose own poems are, Toi Derricotte’s words, “beautiful and serene” in their surfaces with an underlying “sense of an unknown vastness.”






Smith has selected a distinguished array of works both vast and beautiful by such important voices as Henri Cole, Billy Collins, Louise Erdrich, Nobel laureate Louise Glück, Terrance Hayes, and Kevin Young for The Best American Poetry 2021.



I give The Best American Poetry 2021 five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

I look forward to this collection every year. I love seeing some favorite poets of mine, while also being exposed to some names I was unfamiliar. These collections are books I revisit often. So many people don't quite know where to start with poetry, or are only exposed to "Instagram poetry." This collection is the perfect place to start for people who want to read more poetry and get a sense of so many different styles and tones.

This book includes a wonderful selection of poetry from diverse authors. I am still taking my time working through all the poems, but I am enjoying the experience of immersing myself in different perspectives. I’d recommend this selection to anyone who wants to broaden their poetry horizons.

I can't say that any of the poems included in this collection are bad or unworthy, but I do wish there were more from smaller outlets and independent presses. There could be more representation, too, of historically marginalized writers. But the poems here are almost all excellent, if somewhat conservative in scope and approach. It'll be fine for classes and reading groups, but I don't feel like it really represents the best American poetry right now.

—t h e b e s t a m e r i c a n p o e t r y—⁣
Do you have a favorite poet or poem? ⁣
—⁣
Though I forget it sometimes, I am a huge fan of poetry. The brevity, the exactness, the weight. It can be just so so good. ⁣
—⁣
I have recently been working through The Best American Poetry 2021. Each poem was purposefully selected, offering a unique voice and perspective. I have been reading just a few poems a night (multiple times because they usually fly over my head on the first reading).⁣
—⁣
Some favorite gems:⁣
•love poem that ends at popeyes• by Destiny O. Birdsong⁣
“why undress the ground just to prove i am special?”⁣
•This is a Love Poem to Trees• by Hannah Marshall⁣
“To the hackberry, Siberian elm, river birch, redbud, cottonwood, and aspen. I’ve loved them all. To every year the trees grew without us noticing.” ⁣
•George Floyd• by Terrance Hayes⁣
“there will be no stormy weather on the water bored to death any means of killing time is on your side of the bed of the truck transporting Emmett till the break of day Emmett till the river runs dry your face the music of the spheres Emmett till the end of time”⁣
—⁣
Thank you so much to @netgalley and @scribner for my advanced copy! This comes out Tuesday and is a must read for anyone who loves poetry. ⁣
—⁣
#bookreviews

THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 2021
By David Lehman, Guest edited by Tracy K. Smith

A fair warning—these poems don’t pull any punches. Tracy K. Smith, guest editor of THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 2021 ( Scribner, September 2021), has assembled poems that not only prove their qualifications in re: “the best”, as the chicago tribune has already pointed out, but also capture—elegantly in some places, brutally in others, expertly in all—the promised encapsulation of 2021: an emotional endurance test, born of the pressure-cooker that was 2020. THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 2021 is a blow-you-away collection; masterfully curated.

The anthology is full of emotionally resonant and structurally complex poetry. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, it is rich with vital commentary on the issues that trouble our time: assault and gendered violence, policing and the inherent violence therein, the failures of late-stage capitalism, systemic racism and xenophobia, anti-semitism, axes of privilege, climate change, and of course COVID-19. Susan Briante’s “Further Exercises”, for example, begins with “Write a 12-line rhythmically charged poem in which you slant rhyme (at least twice) the name of the last official indicted from the Trump administration.” Things do not lighten from there. It is a reminder, as David Lehman’s foreword discusses in some detail, that poetry is personal and the personal (especially in art) is inherently political.

These poems are educational—while some enlighten, placing their speakers in the realities of current events and culture, others demonstrate the truths of the world through lived experience, through attentive and intensely personal storytelling. The collection of poems that Smith has assembled are both incisive and timeless. They are a vivid capturing of the particular concerns of this hellish cluster of years, but through that exploration they are able to distill emotions and experiences that are fundamental to being human: the fullness of compassion, true peace, righteous fury, frustration and confusion, fear, genuine connection, the pure shock that is joy, and so much more.

THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 2021 publishes 9/28/2021 and is now available for pre-order.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for this e-ARC. All opinions are my own.

First I’ll say that these poems were well written—I mean the title IS “The Best Poetry of 2021.” However, this was not the best poetry to ME. The poems felt repetitive and I didn’t feel connected to the poems. They just didn’t speak to me.

What a wonderful look at a difficult year from the perspectives of so many incredible poets. The 2021 edition of The Best American Poetry not only dives into some of the uncomfortable realities and unrests of the past year, but the editors seem to have taken special care to ensure that a variety of viewpoints are represented, There is a wide breadth of voices represented, which is incredible for an anthology of poetry.

Another thing that sets this anthology apart from other contemporary collections is that it doesn't only feature the well-known names you would expect to find. There are many poets that are lesser known and several I had never read before.

All-in-all, this is an incredible, broad look at poetry and a fantastic reflection of poetry as it exits in our world today.

A wonderful selection. Glad to see POC authors included. A good sample of modern poetry, though I wish it was longer and included lesser know names.

This was a beautiful collection! I loved the variety of culture and experience pulled into this collection, and the biting nature of each of these poems. There were several pieces that I highlighted and that I'm excited to return to one day.

Though provoking verse. I especially appreciated the well crafted repetition in John Yau's 'Overnight.' But many of the poems had a pull and weight to them. And no wonder. 2020 and 2021 have been such difficult years. From the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote, to COVID, to found poetry in police report, there is so much to read and ponder here.

An interesting collection of poems that define the year 2020, but also this decade but also just existence on Earth. I loved the diversity of styles and themes. Anthologies like this are great ways to find new poets to read; for me that's Destiny O Birdsong! My favorite poems were by Birdsong, Graham, Limòn, and Tran. Would love to see more variety in journals these poems are pulled from though!

This is the best poetry anthology I’ve read since Billy Collin’s did 180. It feels relevant, current, diverse, accessible. I added a bunch of authors I’ve never heard of to my TBR. If you are looking for fresh, modern poetry. This is it. It was enjoyable from cover to cover.

A lovely collection of poetry. I really enjoyed the various authors and writing styles. Very relevant and interesting read. Recommended for sure.

Does what it says on the package - a collection of some of America’s best poets, and actually commits to diversity of the poets it features. Also has clued me onto a few poets I hadn’t known before and am now interested in. It’s all over in terms of types and format too, which I love. If you’d like a good sampler and some intriguing places to start, pick this up.