The Best American Poetry 1996
by Adrienne Rich (Editor), David Lehman (Editor)
The Best American Poetry (9)
On This Page
Description
A selection of seventy-five poems from forty literary journals illustrating the variety of American poetry.Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Not a bad anthology. Overall I still don’t feel like poetry is my thing, but I will be looking for more work by some of these poets. I tended to prefer what I’m going to call narrative type poems – those having a sort of clear story or topic rather than those about internal emotions or environmental observations. Below is a list of the poems I particularly liked, links to read the poems online if available, and personal notes on subject/impression.
Capital Punishment by Sherman Alexie – Account of a prison cook making a death-row inmate’s last meal.
Strong’s Winter by Sidney Burris – The denial of the existence of God by a schoolboy.
Sleeping on the Bus by Martin Espada: Read Online (about 3/4 of the way down) – show more Remembering the Freedom Riders.
Rednecks by Martin Espada: Read Online - The shattering of preconceptions.
Reading Aloud to My Father by Jane Kenyon: Read Online - Dealing with the long illness and death of a loved one.
Touch Me by Stanley Kunitz: Read Online - Desire and marriage.
Edge Effect by Sandra McPherson – The diversity of edge ecosystems.
Mangos y limones by Pat Mora: Read Online - Pregnancy cravings.
The Eighth and the Thirteenth by Alicia Ostriker: Read Online - Music and the Holocaust.
Song of Calling Souls (The Drowned Voices from the Golden Venture by Wang Ping – The sinking of a ship of immigrants.
Sestina for Jaime by Katherine Alice Power – Motherhood and memories.
Passive Resistance by Enid Shomer: Read Online - Touring the Nevada Nuclear Testing site, Vegas, and dealing with family history. A lot going on in this one – highly recommended.
Fair Trade by Gary Soto – Early days of marriage, living in a run-down neighborhood, watching a hobo pay 65 cents for two pieces of toast.
The Butcher’s Apron by Diane Wakoski: Read Online - Red meat, processed foods, and identity. show less
Capital Punishment by Sherman Alexie – Account of a prison cook making a death-row inmate’s last meal.
Strong’s Winter by Sidney Burris – The denial of the existence of God by a schoolboy.
Sleeping on the Bus by Martin Espada: Read Online (about 3/4 of the way down) – show more Remembering the Freedom Riders.
Rednecks by Martin Espada: Read Online - The shattering of preconceptions.
Reading Aloud to My Father by Jane Kenyon: Read Online - Dealing with the long illness and death of a loved one.
Touch Me by Stanley Kunitz: Read Online - Desire and marriage.
Edge Effect by Sandra McPherson – The diversity of edge ecosystems.
Mangos y limones by Pat Mora: Read Online - Pregnancy cravings.
The Eighth and the Thirteenth by Alicia Ostriker: Read Online - Music and the Holocaust.
Song of Calling Souls (The Drowned Voices from the Golden Venture by Wang Ping – The sinking of a ship of immigrants.
Sestina for Jaime by Katherine Alice Power – Motherhood and memories.
Passive Resistance by Enid Shomer: Read Online - Touring the Nevada Nuclear Testing site, Vegas, and dealing with family history. A lot going on in this one – highly recommended.
Fair Trade by Gary Soto – Early days of marriage, living in a run-down neighborhood, watching a hobo pay 65 cents for two pieces of toast.
The Butcher’s Apron by Diane Wakoski: Read Online - Red meat, processed foods, and identity. show less
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
Adrienne Cecile Rich was born in Baltimore, Maryland on May 16, 1929. In 1951 she graduated from Radcliffe College and was selected for the Yale Series of Younger Poets prize by W.H. Auden. She began teaching for City College of New York in 1968, and was also a lecturer and adjunct professor at Swarthmore College and Columbia University School of show more the Arts. She taught in CUNY's basic writing program during the early 1970s. In the 1970s, she started to be active in the women's liberation movement. Her work has been characterized as confrontational, treating women's role in society, racism, and the Vietnam War. In addition to many collections of poetry, she has also written several books of nonfiction prose, such as Arts of the Possible: Essays and Conversations, What is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics, and Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. Her last poetry collection was entitled Tonight No Poetry Will Serve: Poems 2007-2010. She has won numerous literary awards, including the 1986 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the 1992 Poets' Prize, the 1997 Wallace Stevens Award of the Academy of American Poets, the 2004 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry, and the 2006 National Book Foundation Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. She has also received the Bollingen Prize, the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award, the Academy of American Poets Fellowship, the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and a MacArthur Fellowship. In 1974, she refused to receive as an individual the National Book Award for Poetry, instead accepting it on behalf of all silenced women. She also refused the National Medal of Arts in 1997, stating that "I could not accept such an award from President Clinton or this White House because the very meaning of art, as I understand it, is incompatible with the cynical politics of this administration." In 2012, she won the Lifetime Recognition Award from the Griffin Poetry Prize. She died from long-term rheumatoid arthritis on March 27, 2012. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
David Lehman's books include One Hundred Autobiographies: A Memoir and Playlist: A Poem. He is the editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry and series editor of The Best American Poetry. He has written nonfiction books about the New York School of poets, classic American popular songs, Frank Sinatra, and mystery novels, among other subjects.
All Editions
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Best American Poetry 1996
- Original publication date
- 1996
Classifications
- Genres
- Poetry, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 811.008 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American poetry Specific kinds of poetry {only by more than one author} Modified standard subdivisions Collections of literary texts
- LCC
- PS615 .B474 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Collections of American literature Poetry By period
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 184
- Popularity
- 177,299
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.43)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 1
