The Best American Poetry 1997

"The daily routine of our lives can be good and even wonderful, but there is still a hunger in us for the mystery of the deep waters, and poetry can fulfill that hunger." So writes James Tate, editor of the 1997 edition of Best American Poetry. The poems that follow his essay bear out the claim. Including work by Allen Ginsberg, Denise Levertov, Mark Strand, and other first-rate poets, the 1997 collection again delights the reader with the variety and quality of poetry now being written. Here is a taste, from Mark Strand's contribution, "Morning, Noon and Night": "Whatever the starcharts told us to watch for or the maps / Said we would find, nothing prepared us for what we discovered. / We toiled in the shadowless depths of noon, / While an alien wind slept in the branches, and dead leaves / Turned to dust in the streets." This series consistently produces collections that are essential reading for poetry lovers.