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A review by robinwalter
The Best American Poetry 2019 by David Lehman, Major Jackson
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
3.0
Poetry is of course intensely subjective, and this collection just did not gel with me. I think it was an ominous warning that the lead editor's intro was a lengthy discussion about the death of poetry. Apparently, the fact that the powerful and privileged no longer have utterly untrammeled freedom of speech and freedom of consequences from that speech is or may be an existential threat both to freedom of speech (i.e., their freedom to say what they like with no comeback of any sort) and poetry itself.
The guest editor's own intro included a lengthy paean to "American" poetry in the more conventionally used "US" sense, then included poems from authors well-known for not being from the US. The inclusion of works by Leonard Cohen and Margaret Atwood in The Best American Poetry 2019 seemed odd after such a discussion celebrating US poetry.
Finally, much of the poetry itself was simply too violent and sanguinary for my squeamish sensibilities. For these reasons, I can give it no more than 3/5
The guest editor's own intro included a lengthy paean to "American" poetry in the more conventionally used "US" sense, then included poems from authors well-known for not being from the US. The inclusion of works by Leonard Cohen and Margaret Atwood in The Best American Poetry 2019 seemed odd after such a discussion celebrating US poetry.
Finally, much of the poetry itself was simply too violent and sanguinary for my squeamish sensibilities. For these reasons, I can give it no more than 3/5