Poetry for me is a spiritual practice. Reading and writing this puts me in touch with something much bigger than myself, something invisible but very real. Poems can be read in the context of other poems, allowing me to be in touch with that tradition, with writers past and present. The word “spiritual” may have a religious connotation, so some people may feel aversion to it, but the realm of the spirit is vaster than orthodoxy or institutions. Even if you are a total materialist, you can think of the mind as the unknown, the realm of unknown possibilities. In poetry, we interact and interact with the zeitgeist and spirit. Another word for “spirit” might be “silence,” an interiority that nourishes thoughts and ideas. Or, as the French philosopher Jean Waal put it: “Perhaps poetry is the only way to color and vibrate the silence that follows us, or is contemporary with us.” Similarly, we think of the spirit as a Buddhist quality of space or emptiness. can be equated with I avoid the word “emptiness,” which implies lack, and think of poetry as its opposite. One of my favorite definitions of poetry of his is Joe Brainard’s aphorism, which exemplifies his characteristic simplicity and grace. “Poetry is something we often feel missing.” What I love most about this statement is the sense of discovery it conveys. When I read my favorite poems, I feel like I’ve rediscovered the meaning of poetry for me. To be honest, I also like the ambiguity of “something.” You won’t know what it is until you find it. And if you don’t look, you won’t find it.
For my purposes, “best” will not be a standard word, but a modifiable one.
Over the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time looking for poetry. I usually read a lot of poetry, but I haven’t read so extensively outside of my comfort zone and interests in a long time. And I don’t usually just focus on what’s happening in American poetry right now. It was a very rewarding and exciting experience. Having taught for many years, I am used to the farming model of planting seeds and letting them grow slowly. It was a fun change to switch roles and become more of a hunter. In fact, I became addicted to this process and couldn’t stop looking for poems. I’ve found that I like to “buy” poetry (to use a not-so-spiritual metaphor) more than I like to buy gourmet snacks, designer bags, or pretty much anything else. Poetry is the only luxury I can’t live without. Audre Lorde says: “Poetry is not a luxury; it is essential to our existence.” Baudelaire further emphasized, “You can live three days without bread; without poetry you can never live.” ‘ he claimed.
Big perks of editing Best American Poetry Award It comes with a lot of magazine subscriptions. I started looking forward to the mail again. The mail was not primarily invoices or leaflets, but rather interesting publications were delivered one after another. Still, I was worried that there was a lot that I wasn’t seeing. I started searching bookstores, both chain and independent. Some vendors are better than others at stocking a small number of poetry magazines, but not surprisingly, literary magazines are not a high priority, especially since the decline of print. Of course, I also looked it up on the internet. I already knew of many great digital magazines, but by constantly narrowing my search I found many more. Some of my biggest collaborators were those who shared recently published poems and links to their sites on his Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. No matter what you think about social media, it allows us to sample different magazines that we didn’t know about, and it’s incredibly fast. No matter the format, magazines help define poetry. They are more than just a publishing outlet, but that alone is reason enough to support them. Often also includes commentaries, reviews, and essays on the latest aesthetic debates. Magazines are the place to find out what poems people are talking about and why. Publishing a magazine requires serious commitment and investment of time and resources. This challenge is acute given continued budget cuts to universities and state-funded arts programs. That’s why I would like to encourage everyone reading this who is interested in poetry to find one or two magazines that resonate with them and subscribe to them. Please excuse my sales pitch. This is something I feel passionate about. Just as we value our physical environment, we must also value our literary environment. You may also consider donating to Poem-a-Day at Poetry Daily or the Academy of American Poets. These two great free services deliver poetry to your inbox every day. I think many of you already know this. I was like that too, but it’s only in the past year that I’ve made a special effort to read both books every day. It became a fun ritual that I looked forward to, and a welcome counterpoint to the gloomy mood that often comes with skimming the day’s headlines. But this anthology isn’t called Best American Magazine, so let’s get back to poetry. The idea that we were looking for “the best” created a powerful focus. I took it to mean the most fascinating, most original, most inspiring work I’ve come across. I didn’t overthink it. For my purposes, “best” will not be a standard word, but a modifiable one. I wasn’t looking for the greatest poem of all time. As I continue to sift through a calendar year’s worth of literary journals (Fall 2021 to Fall 2022, to be exact), what’s great one day might change a month or two later. Perhaps I shouldn’t admit that I was surprised by the great writing I found. It could have easily filled another volume. But since the format only has 75 slots, we had to make some difficult choices.
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Many spiritual traditions have the concept of crazy wisdom, outlandish and unexpected statements designed to interrupt our normal thought patterns. One of the reasons I read poetry is to be shaken awake by such “crazy” stories. The German Romantic poet Novalis wrote, “Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.” I know people often read bestsellers, murder mysteries, and celebrity biographies to escape. I do that too, but sometimes I read poetry to escape. Not to escape from what’s going on in the world, but to escape from the traditional way of looking at the world. I love that in poetry we can find expressions we would never otherwise come across and unthinkable and hilarious things that expand our ideas of what can and cannot be expressed. is. Consider this interesting line from Shelly Jackson’s “Best Original Enigma in Verse.” Aren’t they a striking way to suggest the social landscape?
It was morning, so it was very exciting.
Like a derby with white geraniums on the band.
The gentleman was bathing in a beautiful marble bath.
Poor people used to iron money.
learned how well it works
Like paper.
I made sure to include some wild cards in this anthology because I think every deck needs a few. They remind us that the spirit of poetry does not have to be pious.
One thing I noticed in many of the magazines I looked at, whether big or small, print or digital, was a real effort to make the perspective more global. I was impressed to see how many translations were featured throughout, and how entire issues featured only translated poems, or only the works of poets from specific countries. Translations will not be published, but america’s best poems, this movement toward representing more cultural and ethnic diversity has led us to find many great poems written by poets who were born in other countries and immigrated to the United States. The collection includes works written by people from Argentina, Ghana, Japan, Iraq, Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, as well as poems by children of immigrants from around the world. These voices enrich this collection immeasurably.
At a time when toxic nationalism is rampant, it is refreshing to see that the tradition of cosmopolitanism remains so strong in the world of poetry.
Both of my parents came to America from Italy as children in the early 20th century. I grew up hearing Italian as well as English (mainly from my grandparents), and in our family life he enjoyed watching the two languages blur and blend together. I loved discovering that each language has its own music and temperament, its own curse words and colloquialisms. The first poet who had a huge influence on me during my teenage years was Lorca. This is a paperback of New His Directions, a collection of poems selected by Lorca. I am sure that many poets have been inspired by this book. I think I was not only drawn to the work, but also to the fact that it was translated, that I knew that different languages were involved in the creation of the work. It inspired me to form the concept of poetry as a universal language created across borders.
At a time when toxic nationalism is rampant, it is refreshing to see that the tradition of cosmopolitanism remains so strong in the world of poetry. Lest we forget, the United States has historically been a place where people from all over the world have not only found a home, but have been able to use their creativity to enrich American culture. Poetry reminds us of the value and excitement of such cross-cultural collaborations. Like scientists who share ideas through the language of mathematics, poets are continually motivated to join forces in the pursuit of their art.
I’ve looked forward to it every year since I started in 1988 with John Ashbery as my first guest editor. america’s best poems. As a reader, I know this is a great place to discover new poets and magazines. As a teacher, I have used this many times in my classroom to encourage discussion. It is also a great source of inspiration and possibilities, as it usually represents a variety of formats. Plus, it’s always interesting to see each editor’s take on the previous year. Past guest editors include luminaries unique in their poetic vision, including Robert Creeley, Rita Dove, Lynn Hejinian, Robert Pinsky, Charles Simich, and Terrence Hayes, to name a few. It is. Thanks to David Lehman’s eclectic and truly democratic taste, america’s best poems It continues to amaze us. I am deeply grateful to David for entrusting me with this edition.
We had a lot of fun collaborating. His enthusiasm is contagious. His knowledge of poetry, music, and film is incredible. And now I’ve seen with my own eyes the enormous amount of effort he puts into keeping this series going year after year.
One of the things that stands out to me the most is; best american It’s a way to place poetry in the midst of popular culture without sacrificing the idea of high literary standards of excellence. After all, the “best of” format is familiar to everyone and is expected to appeal to a wide audience. In this way, this anthology establishes a context in which good writing can enjoy wider appreciation. That’s why this book fits so well with my taste for serious fun, mixing the high and the low, the sacred and the mundane. Our collection begins with the music of spectral mathematics and ends with Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Empty Tomb. In the process, unpublished poems by W. H. Auden and lost poems of Jesus are revived. Are there any other anthologies that offer this?
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Excerpt from Best American Poetry 2023, ed. Elaine Equi and David Lehman. Copyright © 2023 by David Lehman. Introduction Copyright © 2023 by Elaine Equi. Reprinted with permission from Her Scribner, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, Inc.
