The Best American Poetry 2014

November 3, 2014
Hayes, a 2014 MacArthur Fellow whose 2010 collection, Lighthead, won the National Book Award for poetry, recalls that the first book of poetry he ever bought was the 1990 edition of Best American Poetry. Given that he has "depended on so deeply for literally all of his life as a poet," it's not surprising that Hayes has applied such a discerning eye in selecting poems for this year's edition. "I'm not ashamed to say I wanted a diverse mix," he states, and the result feels like America at its best and most inclusive, with Sherman Alexie's "Sonnet, with Pride"âan ingenious modification of the formâopening the collection and setting the tone. The blues color the collection and elegies are another prominent feature; Larry Levis (1946â1996) ghosting in with "Elegy with a Darkening Trapeze Inside It," a selection from his uncollected "late" poems. Rita Dove and Yusef Komunyakaa both meditate and comment on the complexities of the concept of Négritude. Hearts in need of wrenching will get theirs, particularly Sharon Olds's "Stanley Kunitz Ode" or Patricia Lockwood's viral wonder, "Rape Joke." One of the strongest volumes in recent years, Hayes makes an offering to readers: "salute what I salute, and be transformed as I have been transformed."