Reviews for The Best American Poetry 2004

The average rating for The Best American Poetry 2004 based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-05-23 00:00:00 Dean CAmpling Overall, I would give this collection a C- average (technically a 72.7% average) 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 taste in poetry is, and (B) my own poetic voice. This is the worst edition of Best American Poetry that I have read so far. Besides the gems listed below, the book is not worthwhile for anybody who likes their poetry to be enjoyable and unique. At a recent conference for the Minnesota Council of Teachers of English (I know, a terribly clunky name for a profession that is supposed to teach people how to read good and do other stuff good too), Garrison Keillor spoke about poetry and how when he was young, there were many poets - inspired by Howl - who tried to write poems that channeled Ginsberg's edgy new style. Keillor went on to recite a poem that was willfully obscure with no real meaning. That parody of bad, inscrutable, unrewarding poetry could have easily been one of 30 poems in this collection. I am by no means against obscure allusions or literary experimentation. My choices below reflect that. However, I am against much of the bland, bloated poetry that comprises the majority of this volume. Masterpieces (6) Oni Buchanan, The Walk Billy Collins, The Centrifuge Linh Dinh, 13 Harry Mathews, Lateral Disregard Virgil Suarez, La Florida James Tate, Bounden Duty Masterful (7) Jack Collom, 3-4-00 Rita Dove, All Souls Jane Hirshfield, Poe: An Assay (I) Carl Phillips, Pleasure Bruce Smith, Song of the Ransom of the Dark Arthur Sze, Acanthus David Wagoner, Trying to Make Music Masters Candidates (7) John Ashbery, Wolf Ridge Anne Carson, Gnosticism T.J. Clark, Landscape with a Calm Michael Davidson, Bad Modernism John Koethe, To an Audience K. Silem Mohammad, Mars Needs Terrorists Edwin Torres, The Theorist Has No Samba! Overall, I would absolutely to highly recommend approx. 26% of the poems contained in this volume.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-07-12 00:00:00 Jay Jackson As a high school teacher, I use the Best American Poetry volumes as sources for contemporary poetry to share with students. Some yield more fruit than others, but generally I find four or five poems in each that I can use in class. From that perspective, this volume is a bust, having perhaps one poem I could see bringing to teens. This collection left me completely unmoved, and I think is a good example of why poetry has gone from a mass cultural devotion to an exclusive, mannered club.