The Best American Poetry 2003 : Series Editor David Lehman

Rating:
Summary: Another Exceptional Read
Review: I will say once again,

David Lehman is one of the most facinating writers, poets, and editors that I have ever read. He is the author of The Daily Mirror, a wonderful and well penned selection of poems.
I believe his perspective and talent for finding the best poets lies in his experience. Mr.Lehman is a great editor and any reader who chooses to pick up and read this book will be thankful.

One can learn so much from the writers and makers of The Best American Poetry books. I also recommend, his most recent book, The Last Avant-Garde: The Making of the New York School of Poets. I give all these books 5 stars!

Rating:
Summary: One of the Better of the Best
Review: It seems a general rule of thumb that if you enjoy the guest editor's work, you will enjoy most of their selections. I enjoy Koumunyakaa and his choices for this years best poetry. I especially enjoyed his introduction talking about the lack of content in many poems today. As with most books in this series, there are many familiar names such as Merwin, Williams, Kizer, Levine, Philips, but also some new and hopefully upcoming poets, such as Joy Katz. There are a few September 11th poems, but most of them are readable. This is one of the best in the series that I have read.

Rating:
Summary: A Sparkling and Challenging Anthology of Daring Poetry
Review: Poetry anthologies are a dime a dozen, for sure. But, as a lover of poetry, this is one of the very best I've seen in a long while.

The quality jumps forth beginning with the Foreword written by the Series Editor David Lehman. This short 9-page introduction is a wonderful brief look at the state of American poetry, where it's been at and where it's today.

Then comes the amazing collection of jewels compiled by the incomparable Yusef Komunyakaa.

My favorites:

"Six Sketches: When a Soul Brakes" by Michael S. Collins. How does a man brake down? What are the steps and signs? A geography of heartache.

"Some Further Words" by Wendell Berry. A workingman's words, mixed the fragrant earth, robust like a February morning.

"For Nazim Hikmet, in the Old Prison, Now a Four Season Hotel" by Myra Shapiro. A love song for Turkey's great but almost unknown (in the West) literary giant.

"Proverb" by Kenneth Koch. Time moves over and beyond everything while creating phantoms of permanence.

I have carried this collection with me inside my briefcase many times to work (to read during the lunch break), or when we went out for shopping, or to the airport when I was waiting for someone. Everytime I had a downtime, I've turned to these well-crafted and deeply-felt poems to add a few more drops of meaning and signifance to the parched landscape of our money-earning days and retirement-calculating lives.

There is something to our existence, something elusive and closed tight but very precious, not way out there in the open, but requiring the surgery of poetry to pry it open and reveal the blinding pearl inside. This collection, a gentle knife with a rosewood handle, accomplishes that.

Rating:
Summary: THANK-YOU'S
Review: Thank you, David Lehman, for having chosen Yusef Komunyakaa to edit THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 2003, the most interesting since Adrienne Rich edited THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 1996. And thank you, Yusef Komunyakaa, for not shuffling the same old, worn cards again! Congratulations to all!

Rating:
Summary: The Best American Poetry 2003 : Series Editor David Lehman
Review: The Best American Poetry is not just a poetry collection; it's a much waited for and anticipated event. Like its predecessors, The Best American Poetry 2003 is a definitive "who's who" in American verse, spotlighting the most talented and best poets at work today in the United States. "Poetry encourages us to have dialogue through the observed, the felt, and the imaginary," writes editor Yusef Komunyakaa in his thought-provoking introduction. As a black child of the American South and a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, Komunyakaa brings his singular vision to this outstanding volume. Included here is a diverse mix of senior masters (Richard Wilbur, the late Kenneth Koch), crowd-pleasing bards (Billy Collins, Rita Dove), rising stars (Catherine Bowman, Tony Hoagland) and the fresh voices of an emerging generation (Natasha Trethewey, Daniel Nester). With comments from the poets elucidating their work and series editor David Lehman's eloquent foreword assessing the state of the art, The Best American Poetry 2003 is a must-have for readers of contemporary poetry

Rating:
Summary: The Best American Poetry 2003 : Series Editor David Lehman
Review: The Best American Poetry is not just a poetry collection; it's a much waited for and anticipated event. Like its predecessors, The Best American Poetry 2003 is a definitive "who's who" in American verse, spotlighting the most talented and best poets at work today in the United States. "Poetry encourages us to have dialogue through the observed, the felt, and the imaginary," writes editor Yusef Komunyakaa in his thought-provoking introduction. As a black child of the American South and a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, Komunyakaa brings his singular vision to this outstanding volume. Included here is a diverse mix of senior masters (Richard Wilbur, the late Kenneth Koch), crowd-pleasing bards (Billy Collins, Rita Dove), rising stars (Catherine Bowman, Tony Hoagland) and the fresh voices of an emerging generation (Natasha Trethewey, Daniel Nester). With comments from the poets elucidating their work and series editor David Lehman's eloquent foreword assessing the state of the art, The Best American Poetry 2003 is a must-have for readers of contemporary poetry

Rating:
Summary: another mediocre volume
Review: What we have here is another mediocre volume in what should be a great series. And this year's looked promising, but you'll find very few poems worth noting inside.