The Best American Poetry 2022

David Lehman, Matthew Zapruder

• Publisher: Scribner
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781982186685
• eBook ISBN: 9781982186708
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Poetry
• Index: Literature

Matthew Zapruder picks the poems for the 2022 edition of The Best American Poetry, “a ‘best’ anthology that really lives up to its title” (Chicago Tribune).

Since 1988, The Best American Poetry series has been “one of the mainstays of the poetry publication world” (Academy of American Poets). Each volume presents a selection of the year’s most brilliant, striking, and innovative poems, with comments from the poets themselves lending insight into their work.

For The Best American Poetry 2022 guest editor Matthew Zapruder, whose own poems are “for everyone, everywhere...democratic in [their] insights and feelings” (NPR), has selected the seventy-five new poems that represent American poetry today at its most dynamic. Chosen from print and online magazines, from the popular to the little-known, the selection is sure to capture the attention of both Best American Poetry loyalists and newcomers to the series.

The series and guest editors contribute valuable introductory essays that illuminate the current state of American poetry.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1. Aria Aber, “America”
• 2. Raymond Antrobus, “Text and Image”
• 3. Dara Barrois/Dixon, “Remembering”
• 4. E. C. Belli, “Vows”
• 5. Oliver Baez Bendorf, “What the Dead Can Do”
• 6. Kristin Bock, “Gaslighter”
• 7. William Brewer, “Anthony Bourdain”
• 8. Jericho Brown, “Inaugural”
• 9. James Cagney, “Proof”
• 10. Bill Carty, “Outer Lands”
• 11. Jennifer Chang, “The Innocent”
• 12. Cathy Linh Che, “Marriage”
• 13. Tiana Clark, “Broken Sestina Reaching for Black Joy”
• 14. Michael Earl Craig, “Preparing for Sleep”
• 15. Laura Cronk, “Today: What Is Sexy”
• 16. Diana Marie Delgado, “Separate but Umbilical Situations Relating to My Father”
• 17. Matthew Dickman, “Goblin”
• 18. Tishani Doshi, “Advice for Pliny the Elder, Big Daddy of Mansplainers”
• 19. Camille T. Dungy, “Let Me”
• 20. Safia Elhillo, “Ode to Sudanese Americans”
• 21. Shangyang Fang, “A Bulldozer’s American Dream”
• 22. Vievee Francis, “1965: Harriet Richardson Wipes Galway Kinnell’s Face after State Troopers Beat Him with a Billy Club”
• 23. Forrest Gander, “Sea: Night Surfing in Bolinas”
• 24. Louise Glück, “Second Wind”
• 25. April Goldman, “Into the Mountains”
• 26. Paul Guest, “Theories of Revenge”
• 27. Jalynn Harris, “The Life of a Writer”
• 28. Terrance Hayes, “What Would You Ask the Artist?”
• 29. Brenda Hillman, “:::[to the voice of the age]:::”
• 30. Noor Hindi, “Against Death”
• 31. Major Jackson, “Ode to Everything”
• 32. Brionne Janae, “Capitalism”
• 33. Rodney Jones, “How Much I Loved This Life”
• 34. Laura Kasischke, “When a bolt of lightning falls in love”
• 35. Laura Kolbe, “Buried Abecedary for Intensive Care”
• 36. Jason Koo, “The Rest Is Silence”
• 37. Deborah Landau, “Skeletons”
• 38. Li-Young Lee, “Big Clock”
• 39. Dana Levin, “January Garden”
• 40. Ada Limón, “My Father’s Mustache”
• 41. Irène Mathieu, “the junkyard galaxy knocks”
• 42. Yesenia Montilla, “How to Greet a Warbler”
• 43. Julia Anna Morrison, “Myths About Trees”
• 44. Sara Mumolo, “Trauma Note”
• 45. Luisa Muradyan, “Quoting the Bible”
• 46. Robin Myers, “Diego de Montemayor”
• 47. Sharon Olds, “Best Friend Ballad”
• 48. Cynthia Parker-Ohene, “In Virginia”
• 49. Cecily Parks, “Pandemic Parable”
• 50. D. A. Powell, “Elegy on Fire”
• 51. Valencia Robin, “After Graduate School”
• 52. Michael Robins, “The Remaining Facts”
• 53. Matthew Rohrer, “Follow Them”
• 54. Patrick Rosal, “La Época En Que Hay Olvida”
• 55. Erika L. Sánchez, “Departure”
• 56. Alexis Sears, “Hair Sestina”
• 57. Diane Seuss, “Modern Poetry”
• 58. Prageeta Sharma, “Widowing”
• 59. Charles Simic, “In the Lockdown”
• 60. Jake Skeets, “Anthropocene: A Dictionary”
• 61. Jessica Q. Stark, “Hungry Poem with Laughter Coming from an Unknown Source”
• 62. Alina Stefanescu, “Little Time”
• 63. Gerald Stern, “Lest I Forget Thee”
• 64. Bianca Stone, “The Infant’s Eyes”
• 65. Michael Teig, “At This Point My Confusion”
• 66. Ocean Vuong, “Reasons for Staying”
• 67. William Waltz, “In a dark time, the eye begins to see”
• 68. Robert Whitehead, “Hi, How Are You”
• 69. El Williams III, “Elegy for the Gnat”
• 70. Phillip B. Williams, “Final Poem for My Father Misnamed in My Mouth”
• 71. Elizabeth Willis, “What Else in Art Do You Pay For”
• 72. Mark Wunderlich, “First, Chill”
• 73. Dean Young, “Spark Theory”
• 74. Felicia Zamora, “Chris Martin Sings ‘Shiver’ & I Shiver: A Poem for Madam Vice President”
• 75. Jenny Zhang, “under the chiming bell”
• Contributors’ Notes and Comments
• Magazines Where the Poems Were First Published
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• Copyright