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Rating: 
Summary: One of the better volumes in the series
Review: I have been reading this series since 1993 and I feel that this is one of the strongest ones in the series. Some good choices from the better known poets, and wonderful poems by poets I was unfamiliar with, including Thomas Sayers Ellis (whose "Atomic Bride" is sure to become a classic). Though the book may drift a little towards the middle in terms of taste, Tate does a good job of mixing different aesthetics into this volume. Also, I think Tate's introduction is the most memorable I've read from the series.
Rating:
Summary: One of the very best in the series
Review: Leave it to James Tate. The poems in this collection are witty, profound, whimsical, and memorable. There isn't one I wouldn't finish reading if I came across it in its original source.Unlike some of the unpolished PC rants in Rich's collection, these are poems that truly matter because they reflect on what Faulkner called "the verities of the human heart." Unlike some of the fatally over-ambitious poems in Hollander's collection, these poems are less than epic length but more than haiku -- just right. I'm mostly a library reader, but this is the one I might actually buy.
Rating: 
Summary: The SS Poetic Political
Review: There are but three problems I have with this collection of poetry. 1. The arrogant, self fulfilling jabberings of Mark Strand. 2. The ridiculously boring half witted remarks of the coughing crow writer, Jorie Grahm, a friend of Strand. 3. The exclusion of the brilliantly poetic and under-rated, Virginia Hamiliton Adair. Aside from these complaints, the book is well worth the ten dollars spent in the hope of resurrecting a dying art.
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