The Best American Poetry 2000 [Hardcover]

A mid an explosion in the interest of poetry nationwide (The New York Times), The Best American Poetry 2000delivers one of the finest volumes yet in this renowned series. Guest editor Rita Dove, a distinguished figure in the poetry world and the second African-American poet ever to win the Pulitzer Prize, brings all of her dynamism and well-honed acumen to bear on this project. Dove used a simple yet exacting method to make her selections: The final criterion, she writes in her introduction, was Emily Dickinson's famed description -- if I felt that the top of my head had been taken off, the poem was in. The result is a marvelous collection of consistently high-quality poems diverse in form, tone, style, stance, and subject matter. With comments from the poets themselves illuminating their poems and a foreword by series editor David Lehman,The Best American Poetry 2000is this year's must-have book for all poetry lovers.David Lehman, the series editor of The Best American Poetry, edited The Oxford Book of American Poetry. His books of poetry include The Morning Line, When a Woman Loves a Man, and The Daily Mirror.He has written such nonfiction books asSigns of the Times: Deconstruction and the Fall of Paul de Man.He lives in New York City and Ithaca, New York.
CONTENTS

Foreword by David Lehman

Introduction by Rita Dove

Kim Addonizio, Virgin Spring

Pamela Alexander, Semiotics

A. R. Ammons, Shot Glass

Julianna Baggott, Mary Todd on Her Deathbed

Erin Belieu, Choose Your Garden

Richard Blanco, Mango, Number 61

Janet Bowdan, The Year

Grace Butcher, Crow Is Walking

Lucille Clifton, Signs

Billy Collins, Man Listening to Disc

Jim Daniels, Between Periods

Linh Dinh, The Most Beautifu