The Best American Poetry 2002
by Robert Creeley

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• ISBN13: 9780743203869
• Condition: New
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Book Reviews of The Best American Poetry 2002

Book Review: A wonderful, quirky selection
Summary: 4 Stars

For me, the books work best when the editor is someone with a specific and, most likely, controversial vision -- a person who isn't afraid of manifestos and subjectivity. Thus, up until now, my favorite volume in the series was the 1996 edition edited by Adrienne Rich -- not because I think all of the poems she chose were brilliant (many weren't), but rather because the choices were unpredictable and, though diverse, held together by a clear philosophical intent on the editor's part. (It was exactly this philosophical intent which made the book the most controversial one in the series, with Harold Bloom deliberately excluding any of Rich's choices from the ten-year retrospective volume.)

Robert Creeley's volume seems even better to me than Rich's (partly because I like Creeley's view of poetry more than Rich's). I expect, though, that the book will either be loved or hated by readers, for though there are some old favorites such as Donald Hall and Sharon Olds included, the majority of the poems are innovative and "difficult".

Approached with an open mind, a high tolerance for ambiguity and confusion, and a certain sense of humor, though, and this book reveals itself to be full of wonders. I couldn't tell you what the exact meaning of Forrest Gander's magnificent "Carried Across" is, but I can say that reading it was one of the most powerful and rewarding experiences I've had while reading contemporary poetry. None of the other poems had quite the same effect on me, but why should they? Jenny Boully's footnotes-to-blank-space "The Body" had me laughing and thinking and wondering and rethinking as I wandered through it, a bit lost but also amused, and many other poems had similar effects.

Frank O'Hara maintained that poetry should at least be as interesting as movies, and, with the proper willingness on the reader's part to stay open to oddity, just about all of these poems meet that test.

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