A review by pattydsf
The Best American Poetry 2006 by David Lehman, Billy Collins
4.0
In the fall of 2010, I went with my mom to the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, New Jersey. Attending this festival had been a dream of mine for years and I was pleased that my mom was willing to attend it with me. It was especially gratifying that she had a good time.
I have been a poetry reader for years. I had met Nikki Giovanni in high school and fell in love with her poetry. That meeting helped me to realize that authors are real people and that poetry might be more accessible than my English classes had made me think.
Over the years I had adopted some favorite poems and poets. Attending the Dodge Festival made me want to read some new poets and I decided that the Best American Poetry series was one way to encounter new authors and poems. I had no particular reason for starting with the volume from 2006 except it was cheap and you would have to be dead (in my opinion) not to have heard of Billy Collins.
For me this was a good volume to start with. I found poems by Kay Ryan and Bob Hicok - both of whom I had heard in Newark. There is a poem by Mary Oliver, another famous contemporary poet. (I hope that isn't an oxymoron). Also I liked the poems by Amy Gerstler, Mark Halliday and Dean Young among others.
My only complaint was the introduction by Billy Collins. I have a friend who detests Billy Collins' poetry and although I would not say I detest Collins, I did not like his words about the state of poetry in 2005. Collins was doing the anthology and so he has the right to speak his mind, but I felt he was unduly harsh.
However, Collins made me think about what he had to say about poetry and that is what I like about poems. The poems I like take me somewhere (which Collins also likes) and they make me think.
One way or another, in spite of Billy Collins or because of him, I appreciated this volume of poetry. I will dip into it again and again and I would recommend that you do the same. If not with this anthology then with another. As Edward Hirsch says, "This poem has come from a great distance to find you." All of poetry is looking for a reader - you should try being the reader.
I have been a poetry reader for years. I had met Nikki Giovanni in high school and fell in love with her poetry. That meeting helped me to realize that authors are real people and that poetry might be more accessible than my English classes had made me think.
Over the years I had adopted some favorite poems and poets. Attending the Dodge Festival made me want to read some new poets and I decided that the Best American Poetry series was one way to encounter new authors and poems. I had no particular reason for starting with the volume from 2006 except it was cheap and you would have to be dead (in my opinion) not to have heard of Billy Collins.
For me this was a good volume to start with. I found poems by Kay Ryan and Bob Hicok - both of whom I had heard in Newark. There is a poem by Mary Oliver, another famous contemporary poet. (I hope that isn't an oxymoron). Also I liked the poems by Amy Gerstler, Mark Halliday and Dean Young among others.
My only complaint was the introduction by Billy Collins. I have a friend who detests Billy Collins' poetry and although I would not say I detest Collins, I did not like his words about the state of poetry in 2005. Collins was doing the anthology and so he has the right to speak his mind, but I felt he was unduly harsh.
However, Collins made me think about what he had to say about poetry and that is what I like about poems. The poems I like take me somewhere (which Collins also likes) and they make me think.
One way or another, in spite of Billy Collins or because of him, I appreciated this volume of poetry. I will dip into it again and again and I would recommend that you do the same. If not with this anthology then with another. As Edward Hirsch says, "This poem has come from a great distance to find you." All of poetry is looking for a reader - you should try being the reader.