What do you think?
Rate this book
The Best American Poetry 1997
Now celebrating its tenth anniversary, The Best American Poetry is the one indispensable volume for readers eager to follow what's new in poetry today. Sales continue to grow and plaudits keep coming in for this "high-voltage testament to the vitality of American poetry" (Booklist). Selected by prizewinning guest editor James Tate, the seventy-five best poems of the year were chosen from more than three dozen magazines and range from the comic to the cosmic, from the contemplative to the sublime. In addition to showcasing our leading bards -- such as John Ashbery, Jorie Graham, Robert Hass, and Mark Strand -- the collection marks an auspicious debut for eye-opening younger poets. With comments from the poets themselves offering insights into their work, The Best American Poetry 1997 delivers the startling and imaginative writing that more and more people have come to expect from this prestigious series.
- GenresPoetryAnthologies
272 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1997
4 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
James Tate
156Ìýbooks123ÌýfollowersJames Vincent Tate was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He taught creative writing at the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University, and at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he worked since 1971. He was a member of the poetry faculty at the MFA Program for Poets & Writers, along with Dara Wier and Peter Gizzi.
Dudley Fitts selected Tate's first book of poems, The Lost Pilot (1967) for the Yale Series of Younger Poets while Tate was still a student at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop; Fitts praised Tate's writing for its "natural grace." Despite the early praise he received Tate alienated some of his fans in the seventies with a series of poetry collections that grew more and more strange.
He published two books of prose, Dreams of a Robot Dancing Bee (2001) and The Route as Briefed (1999). His awards include a National Institute of Arts and Letters Award, the Wallace Stevens Award, a Pulitzer Prize in poetry, a National Book Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He was also a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Tate's writing style is difficult to describe, but has been identified with the postmodernist and neo-surrealist movements. He has been known to play with phrases culled from news items, history, anecdotes, or common speech; later cutting, pasting, and assembling such divergent material into tightly woven compositions that reveal bizarre and surreal insights into the absurdity of human nature.
Dudley Fitts selected Tate's first book of poems, The Lost Pilot (1967) for the Yale Series of Younger Poets while Tate was still a student at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop; Fitts praised Tate's writing for its "natural grace." Despite the early praise he received Tate alienated some of his fans in the seventies with a series of poetry collections that grew more and more strange.
He published two books of prose, Dreams of a Robot Dancing Bee (2001) and The Route as Briefed (1999). His awards include a National Institute of Arts and Letters Award, the Wallace Stevens Award, a Pulitzer Prize in poetry, a National Book Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He was also a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Tate's writing style is difficult to describe, but has been identified with the postmodernist and neo-surrealist movements. He has been known to play with phrases culled from news items, history, anecdotes, or common speech; later cutting, pasting, and assembling such divergent material into tightly woven compositions that reveal bizarre and surreal insights into the absurdity of human nature.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 29, 2015
This was the best Best American Poetry volume I have read. While I did not enjoy every poem, there was no poem in this collection that I truly disliked, only ones that didn't quite do it for me. This made the reading experience unusually good, as I did not have to slog through bad poems to reach the really good ones. There were some poems I had already read--"No Sorry" by Catherine Bowman and "Return to Harmony 3" by Agha Shahid Ali were both featured in --but the vast majority were both enjoyable and new. There were some names I am familiar with. John Ashberry and Robert Hass have appeared in all three Best American Poetry collections I have read, and Charles Simic has appeared in at least two. I need to just find a Simic collection; I nearly universally love his pieces and this one, "The Something", is no exception. There are some new names as well, I am not familiar with L.S. Asekoff, but I thought his "Rounding the Horn" was one of the very best pieces in the book.
My favorite pieces (excluding those mentioned above) were "Disjecta Membra" by Charles Wright, "Evening's End" by Leon Stokesbury, "Fiddleheads" by Maureen Seaton, "Topophilia" by Mary Ruefle, and "Anastasia and Sandman" by Larry Levis. I wasn't a big fan of "Camoflage" by Marianne Boruch or Joseph Brodsky's "Love Song", but even the weak pieces were on the string side.
All in all, this was an exceptional anthology of contemporary poetry.
My favorite pieces (excluding those mentioned above) were "Disjecta Membra" by Charles Wright, "Evening's End" by Leon Stokesbury, "Fiddleheads" by Maureen Seaton, "Topophilia" by Mary Ruefle, and "Anastasia and Sandman" by Larry Levis. I wasn't a big fan of "Camoflage" by Marianne Boruch or Joseph Brodsky's "Love Song", but even the weak pieces were on the string side.
All in all, this was an exceptional anthology of contemporary poetry.
December 10, 2016
Overall, I would give this collection a B average (technically an 86.9% avg.) 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 last month to read the last few entries in the 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. I am finding so far that I am all over the map and impressionable in both areas (I am only an amateur poet at this point, if that).
I intended on reading the BAP series in reverse chronological order (I started with 2016, then 2015...), but I decided to break the trend after I became enamored with James Tate's poetry. I figured that if I enjoyed the poet selecting the poems, that there would be a greater chance that I would rate a collection with a solid B+ or even A- average. Alas, poetry is poetry. Although I ended up with a B average once more, I still found it interesting to find poems throughout the collection that reflected Tate's own. His tendency towards surrealism and his ability to outpour unexpected emotion is present in this collection.
Masterpieces (10)
"Love Song" by Joseph Brodsky
"Lines Lost Among the Trees" by Billy Collins
"The Death of John Berryman" by William Dickey
"The Porcelain Couple" by Donald Hall
"Her Body" by Daniel Halpern
"Making It Stick" by Lawson Fusao Inada
"Vermin" by William Matthews
"Valediction" by Clare Rossini
"Topophilia" by Mary Ruefle
"The Plan" by Jack Turner
Masterful (8)
"Back in the World" by Ai
"The Problem of Anxiety" by John Ashbery
"Atomic Bride" by Thomas Sayers Ellis
"The Bright Light of Responsibility" by Jennifer L. Knox
"Shadow" by Josip Novakovich
"Mostly Mick Jagger" by Catie Rosemurgy
"Italian Eclogues" by Derek Walcott
"Shadow Grammar" by Terrence Winch
Masters Candidates (10)
"The Exaggeration of Despair" by Sherman Alexie
"You Know What I'm Saying" by Irving Feldman
"Is About" by Allen Ginsberg
"The Litany" by Dana Gioia
"After Fighting for Hours" by Kate Gleason
"The Poem That Was Once Called "Desperate" But Is Now Striving to Become the Perfect Love Poem" by Richard Jackson
"Dust Storm" by Gray Jacobik
"A Bill, Posted" by Philip Kobylarz
"Empress of Sighs" by Beth Lisick
"Recruiting Poster" by Hillel Schwarz
Overall, I would absolutely to highly recommend approx. 38.3% of the poems contained in this volume. Out of the three that I've read
I started a mission last month to read the last few entries in the 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. I am finding so far that I am all over the map and impressionable in both areas (I am only an amateur poet at this point, if that).
I intended on reading the BAP series in reverse chronological order (I started with 2016, then 2015...), but I decided to break the trend after I became enamored with James Tate's poetry. I figured that if I enjoyed the poet selecting the poems, that there would be a greater chance that I would rate a collection with a solid B+ or even A- average. Alas, poetry is poetry. Although I ended up with a B average once more, I still found it interesting to find poems throughout the collection that reflected Tate's own. His tendency towards surrealism and his ability to outpour unexpected emotion is present in this collection.
Masterpieces (10)
"Love Song" by Joseph Brodsky
"Lines Lost Among the Trees" by Billy Collins
"The Death of John Berryman" by William Dickey
"The Porcelain Couple" by Donald Hall
"Her Body" by Daniel Halpern
"Making It Stick" by Lawson Fusao Inada
"Vermin" by William Matthews
"Valediction" by Clare Rossini
"Topophilia" by Mary Ruefle
"The Plan" by Jack Turner
Masterful (8)
"Back in the World" by Ai
"The Problem of Anxiety" by John Ashbery
"Atomic Bride" by Thomas Sayers Ellis
"The Bright Light of Responsibility" by Jennifer L. Knox
"Shadow" by Josip Novakovich
"Mostly Mick Jagger" by Catie Rosemurgy
"Italian Eclogues" by Derek Walcott
"Shadow Grammar" by Terrence Winch
Masters Candidates (10)
"The Exaggeration of Despair" by Sherman Alexie
"You Know What I'm Saying" by Irving Feldman
"Is About" by Allen Ginsberg
"The Litany" by Dana Gioia
"After Fighting for Hours" by Kate Gleason
"The Poem That Was Once Called "Desperate" But Is Now Striving to Become the Perfect Love Poem" by Richard Jackson
"Dust Storm" by Gray Jacobik
"A Bill, Posted" by Philip Kobylarz
"Empress of Sighs" by Beth Lisick
"Recruiting Poster" by Hillel Schwarz
Overall, I would absolutely to highly recommend approx. 38.3% of the poems contained in this volume. Out of the three that I've read
February 20, 2013
Solid 3.5 stars. As with most poetry anthologies, a handful of the poems had great impact and reminded me why I love poetry (about 10%), a handful of the poems didn't connect with me whatsoever (15%), and the rest are pretty decent poems that are not life-changing but that's okay (75%).
The Best American Poetry series is a good springboard; If you see an author you like, go look up one of their books. If you get a sense you'll enjoy one of the publications that publish the poems you like, go look up the publication. And the poem notes from each of the authors are great, especially when they cause you to flip back and read the poem with deepened understanding.
I am curious about the authors who didn't contribute notes for the end of the book. Were they too busy to send the editor a few, quick thoughts? Did they strongly feel the poem stood on its own or were they just lazy? I get more curious the more I think about it.
The Best American Poetry series is a good springboard; If you see an author you like, go look up one of their books. If you get a sense you'll enjoy one of the publications that publish the poems you like, go look up the publication. And the poem notes from each of the authors are great, especially when they cause you to flip back and read the poem with deepened understanding.
I am curious about the authors who didn't contribute notes for the end of the book. Were they too busy to send the editor a few, quick thoughts? Did they strongly feel the poem stood on its own or were they just lazy? I get more curious the more I think about it.
March 19, 2009
A sturdy, dense collection of serious but ultimately satisfying poems. Much more substantive than some of the other volumes in this series, and a pitch-perfect portrayal of the mood of the year it memorializes.
As always, this edition is valuable not just for the poems themselves, but for the fascinating notes from the poets about their works. I was especially interested in how the contributors' notes in this one corrected some misconceptions I'd had about the lives of my favorite authors (Jane Kenyon had leukemia, and Allen Ginsberg died of a heart attack, two things I didn't know before).
Highly recommended.
As always, this edition is valuable not just for the poems themselves, but for the fascinating notes from the poets about their works. I was especially interested in how the contributors' notes in this one corrected some misconceptions I'd had about the lives of my favorite authors (Jane Kenyon had leukemia, and Allen Ginsberg died of a heart attack, two things I didn't know before).
Highly recommended.
January 7, 2022
Going on a quarter of a century, and this remains one of my top-3 volumes in the series. I always remember it for Ginsber's "Is About," but there are so many excellent, relatable poems in this edition. It's a gem.
February 21, 2008
i've read all of the best american poetry volumes, but this is the best.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.