The Best American Poetry 2012

Series Editor David Lehman

Mark Doty, David Lehman

• Publisher: Scribner
• Year: 2012
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781439181546
• Subtopic: American Poetry
• Index: Literature

Mark Doty brings the vitality and imagination that illuminate his own work to his selections for the twenty-fifth volume in the Best American Poetry series. He has chosen poems of high moral earnestness and poems in a comic register; poems that tell stories and poems that test the boundaries of innovative composition. This landmark edition includes David Lehman’s keen look at American poetry in his foreword, Mark Doty’s gorgeous introduction, and notes from the poets revealing the germination of their work. Over the last twenty-five years, The Best American Poetry has become an annual rite of the poetry world, and this year’s anthology is a welcome and essential addition to the series.

SHERMAN ALEXIE * KAREN LEONA ANDERSON * RAE ARMANTROUT * JULIANNA BAGGOTT * DAVID BAKER * RICK BAROTt REGINALD DWAYNE BETTS * FRANK BIDART * BRUCE BOND * STEPHANIE BROWN * ANNE CARSON * JENNIFER CHANG * JOSEPH CHAPMAN * HEATHER CHRISTLE * HENRI COLE * BILLY COLLINS * PETER COOLEY * EDUARDO C. CORRAL * ERICA DAWSON * STEPHEN DUNN * ELAINE EQUI * ROBERT GIBB * KATHLEEN GRABER * AMY GLYNN GREACEN * JAMES ALLEN HALL * TERRANCE HAYES * STEVEN HEIGHTON * BRENDA HILLMAN * JANE HIRSHFIELD * RICHARD HOWARD * MARIE HOWE * AMORAK HUEY * JENNY JOHNSON * LAWRENCE JOSEPH * FADY JOUDAH * JOY KATZ * JAMES KIMBRELL * NOELLE KOCOT * MAXINE KUMIN * SARAH LINDSAY * AMIT MAJMUDAR * DAVID MASON * KERRIN McCADDEN * HONOR MOORE * MICHAEL MORSE * CAROL MUSKE-DUKES * ANGELO NIKOLOPOULOS * MARY OLIVER * STEVE ORLEN * ALICIA OSTRIKER * ERIC PANKEY * LUCIA PERILLO * ROBERT PINSKY * DEAN RADER * SPENCER REECE * PAISLEY REKDAL * MARY RUEFLE * DON RUSS * KAY RYAN * MARY JO SALTER * LYNNE SHARON SCHWARTZ * FREDERICK SEIDEL * BRENDA SHAUGHNESSY * PETER JAY SHIPPY * TRACY K. SMITH * BRUCE SNIDER * MARK STRAND * LARISSA SZPORLUK * DANIEL TOBIN * NATASHA TRETHEWEY * SUSAN WHEELER * FRANZ WRIGHT * DAVID YEZZI * DEAN YOUNG * KEVIN YOUNG

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Sherman Alexie, “Terminal Nostalgia”
• Chapter 2: Karen Leona Anderson, “Receipt: Midway Entertainment Presents”
• Chapter 3: Rae Armantrout, “Accounts”
• Chapter 4: Julianna Baggott, “For Furious Nursing Baby”
• Chapter 5: David Baker, “Outside”
• Chapter 6: Rick Barot, “Child Holding Potato”
• Chapter 7: Reginald Dwayne Betts, “At the End of Life, a Secret”
• Chapter 8: Frank Bidart, “Of his Bones are Coral Made”
• Chapter 9: Bruce Bond, “Pill”
• Chapter 10: Stephanie Brown, “Notre Dame”
• Chapter 11: Anne Carson, “Sonnet of Exemplary Sentences”
• Chapter 12: Jennifer Chang, “Dorothy Wordsworth”
• Chapter 13: Joseph Chapman, “Sparrow”
• Chapter 14: Heather Christle, “Basic”
• Chapter 15: Henri Cole, “Broom”
• Chapter 16: Billy Collins, “Delivery”
• Chapter 17: Peter Cooley, “More than Twice, More than I Can Count”
• Chapter 18: Eduardo C. Corral, “To the Angelbeast”
• Chapter 19: Erica Dawson, “Back Matter”
• Chapter 20: Stephen Dunn, “The Imagined”
• Chapter 21: Elaine Equi, “A Story Begins”
• Chapter 22: Robert Gibb, “Spirit in the Dark”
• Chapter 23: Kathleen Graber, “Self-Portrait with No Internal Navigation”
• Chapter 24: Amy Glynn Greacen, “Helianthus annuus (Sunflower)”
• Chapter 25: James Allen Hall, “One Train’s Survival Depends on the Other Derailed”
• Chapter 26: Terrance Hayes, “The Rose has Teeth”
• Chapter 27: Steven Heighton, “Collision”
• Chapter 28: Brenda Hillman, “Moaning Action at the Gas Pump”
• Chapter 29: Jane Hirshfield, “In a Kitchen where Mushrooms were Washed”
• Chapter 30: Richard Howard, “A Proposed Curriculum Change”
• Chapter 31: Marie Howe, “Magdalene—The Seven Devils”
• Chapter 32: Amorak Huey, “Memphis”
• Chapter 33: Jenny Johnson, “Aria”
• Chapter 34: Lawrence Joseph, “So where are We?”
• Chapter 35: Fady Joudah, “Tenor”
• Chapter 36: Joy Katz, “Death is Something Entirely Else”
• Chapter 37: James Kimbrell, “How to Tie a Knot”
• Chapter 38: Noelle Kocot, “Poem”
• Chapter 39: Maxine Kumin, “Either or”
• Chapter 40: Sarah Lindsay, “Hollow Boom Soft Chime: The Thai Elephant Orchestra”
• Chapter 41: Amit Majmudar, “The Autobiography of Khwaja Mustasim”
• Chapter 42: David Mason, “Mrs. Mason and the Poets”
• Chapter 43: Kerrin McCadden, “Becca”
• Chapter 44: Honor Moore, “Song”
• Chapter 45: Michael Morse, “Void and Compensation (Facebook)”
• Chapter 46: Carol Muske-Dukes, “Hate Mail”
• Chapter 47: Angelo Nikolopoulos, “Daffodil”
• Chapter 48: Mary Oliver, “In Provincetown, and Ohio, and Alabama”
• Chapter 49: Steve Orlen, “Where Do We Go After We Die”
• Chapter 50: Alicia Ostriker, “Song”
• Chapter 51: Eric Pankey, “Sober then Drunk Again”
• Chapter 52: Lucia Perillo, “Samara”
• Chapter 53: Robert Pinsky, “Improvisation on Yiddish”
• Chapter 54: Dean Rader, “Self-Portrait as Dido to Aeneas”
• Chapter 55: Spencer Reece, “The Road to Emmaus”
• Chapter 56: Paisley Rekdal, “Wax”
• Chapter 57: Mary Ruefle, “Middle School”
• Chapter 58: Don Russ, “Girl with Gerbil”
• Chapter 59: Kay Ryan, “Playacting”
• Chapter 60: Mary Jo Salter, “The Gods”
• Chapter 61: Lynne Sharon Schwartz, “The Afterlife”
• Chapter 62: Frederick Seidel, “Rain”
• Chapter 63: Brenda Shaughnessy, “Artless”
• Chapter 64: Peter Jay Shippy, “Our Posthumous Lives”
• Chapter 65: Tracy K. Smith, “Everything that Ever was”
• Chapter 66: Bruce Snider, “The Drag Queen Dies in New Castle”
• Chapter 67: Mark Strand, “The Mysterious Arrival of an Unusual Letter”
• Chapter 68: Larissa Szporluk, “Sunflower”
• Chapter 69: Daniel Tobin, “The Turnpike”
• Chapter 70: Natasha Trethewey, “Dr. Samuel Adolphus Cartwright on Dissecting the White Negro, 1851”
• Chapter 71: Susan Wheeler, From “The Split”
• Chapter 72: Franz Wright, “The Lesson”
• Chapter 73: David Yezzi, “Minding Rites”
• Chapter 74: Dean Young, “Restoration Ode”
• Chapter 75: Kevin Young, “Expecting”
• Contributors’ Notes and Comments
• Magazines where the Poems were First Published
• Acknowledgments
• About Mark Doty and David Lehman
• Endnotes
• Copyright