The Best American Poetry 2000

by Dove, Rita; Lehman, David

• ISBN13: 9780684842813
• ISBN10: 0684842815
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Scribner

Summary

Since its debut in 1988, sales for The Best American Poetry have nearly quadrupled. Now, in the midst of a present "explosion in the interest of poetry nationwide" (The New York Times), this renowned series promises to deliver one of its finest volumes yet with Rita Dove as the year's guest editor. One of the most prominent figures in the poetry world, former Poet Laureate Dove brings all of her dynamism and well-honed acumen to bear on the project.

Dove has chosen the best poems of the year from a wide range of literary magazines and journals. Along with the work of today's most celebrated poets, including W. S. Merwin, Lucille Clifton, Susan Mitchell, and John Ashbery, Dove has also selected several fresh and diverse poems from a host of groundbreaking newcomers. Featuring comments from the poets elucidating their work and a Foreword by Series Editor David Lehman, The Best American Poetry 2000 is an especially strong addition to the series People magazine called, "a year's worth of the very best".

Table of Contents

Foreword	9	(8)
David Lehman
Introduction	17	(10)
Rita Dove
``Virgin Spring''	27	(2)
Kim Addonizio
``Semiotics''	29	(1)
Pamela Alexander
``Shot Glass''	30	(2)
A. R. Ammons
``Mary Todd on Her Deathbed''	32	(2)
Julianna Baggott
``Choose Your Garden''	34	(2)
Erin Belieu
``Mango, Number 61''	36	(2)
Richard Blanco
``The Year''	38	(1)
Janet Bowdan
``Crow Is Walking''	39	(2)
Grace Butcher
``Signs''	41	(1)
Lucille Clifton
``Man Listening to Disc''	42	(2)
Billy Collins
``Between Periods''	44	(3)
Jim Daniels
``The Most Beautiful Word''	47	(1)
Linh Dinh
``Immigrant Picnic''	48	(2)
Gregory Djanikian
``Incest Taboo''	50	(5)
Denise Duhamel
``Birthday''	55	(2)
Christopher Edgar
``Alpha Images''	57	(5)
Karl Elder
``Walt, I Salute You!''	62	(2)
Lynn Emanuel
``Mrs. Hill''	64	(2)
B. H. Fairchild
``We Did Not Fear the Father''	66	(1)
Charles Fort
``Seven Roses''	67	(2)
Frank X. Gaspar
``And in the Afternoons I Botanized''	69	(4)
Elton Glaser
``For the Other World''	73	(2)
Ray Gonzalez
``The Last Living Castrato''	75	(2)
Jennifer Grotz
``The Dump''	77	(2)
Thom Gunn
``Before''	79	(2)
Mark Halliday
``Ode to the Lost Luggage Warehouse at the Rome Airport''	81	(4)
Barbara Hamby
``Goldsboro Narratives''	85	(3)
Forrest Hamer
``Air for Mercury''	88	(3)
Brenda Hillman
``Considering the Demise of Everything''	91	(2)
Marsha Janson
``Epistle''	93	(2)
Mark Jarman
``Ghosts''	95	(1)
Patricia Spears Jones
``Plea for Forgiveness''	96	(2)
Rodney Jones
``Ralph: A Love Story''	98	(3)
Donald Justice
``Six Apologies, Lord''	101	(1)
Olena Kalytiak Davis
``At the Grave of Harold Goldstein''	102	(5)
David Kirby
``The Oration''	107	(2)
Carolyn Kizer
``The Muse of the Actual''	109	(2)
Lynne Knight
``The Goddess of Quotas Laments''	111	(1)
Yusef Komunyakaa
``Henry Clay's Mouth''	112	(2)
Thomas Lux
``We Take Our Children to Ireland''	114	(2)
Lynne McMahon
``The Hours of Darkness''	116	(3)
W. S. Merwin
``Lost Parrot''	119	(2)
Susan Mitchell
``Aunt Lily and Frederick the Great''	121	(2)
Jean Nordhaus
``Work''	123	(6)
Mary Oliver
``I Do Not''	129	(3)
Michael Palmer
``Paris''	132	(2)
Paul Perry
```All art...'''	134	(2)
Carl Phillips
``Samurai Song''	136	(1)
Robert Pinsky
``History & Bikinis''	137	(5)
Donald Platt
``Kunitz Tending Roses''	142	(2)
Stanley Plumly
``Permanence''	144	(2)
Lawrence Raab
``The Beach at Falmouth Heights, Summer, 1952''	146	(5)
Thomas Rabbitt
``Au Pair''	151	(2)
Mary Jo Salter
``Welcome to Ithaca''	153	(2)
Rebecca Seiferle
``Postfeminism''	155	(2)
Brenda Shaughnessy
``from Black Series''	157	(2)
Laurie Sheck
``Semantics at Four P.M.''	159	(2)
Reginald Shepherd
``The Dislocated Room''	161	(4)
Richard Siken
``Mother of Us All''	165	(2)
Cathy Song
``Chit-Chat with the Junior League Women''	167	(2)
Gary Soto
``In a Field Outside the Town''	169	(4)
Gabriel Spera
``Asphodel''	173	(1)
A. E. Stallings
``Wings''	174	(2)
Susan Stewart
``The English Canon''	176	(1)
Adrienne Su
``There Is a Lake of Ice on the Moon''	177	(2)
Pamela Sutton
``No Palms''	179	(1)
Dorothea Tanning
``Limen''	180	(1)
Natasha Trethewey
``Song''	181	(1)
Quincy Troupe
``Rahim Multani''	182	(3)
Reetika Vazirani
``As I Was Telling David and Alexandra Kelley''	185	(3)
Paul Violi
``Pissarro at Dusk''	188	(5)
Derek Walcott
``Fabrications''	193	(2)
Richard Wilbur
``Analysis of the Rose as Sentimental Despair''	195	(5)
Susan Wood
``Borrowed Love Poems''	200	(5)
John Yau
``The Infirmament''	205	(2)
Dean Young
Contributors' Notes and Comments	207	(50)
Magazines Where the Poems Were First Published	257	(4)
Acknowledgments	261	(6)
The Best American Poetry of the Twentieth Century	267