I am in the process of making friends with a poet. So I decided to read a book of poetry, and figured a Best Of meant that I wouldn’t have to suffer through a bunch of drivel. Of course, now that I’ve written the first two sentences of this review, I’m thinking I should have planned and made it in iambic pentameter or something, which would mean looking up exactly what iambic pentameter is because I think what I think iambic pentametic is (da da da da da da da; da da da da da da da da) may just be a rhythm that children’s books are often written in.
So I don’t read much poetry. I know that I like reading poems that rhyme, but then (I thought quite hard on this) I realized that saying I like reading poems that rhyme really means I like reading When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne, because very few poems rhymed in Best American Poetry 2016 and, the ones that did, I didn’t enjoy as much as the ones that didn’t. I read a few poems from the anthology each day, letting them shine on me like equatorial sunshine. That’s what I think good poetry should do, make you feel like one is standing in a southern Italian sun, by the beach but not on the beach, with that white light we don’t get here (too far north). Clarity. To be of pure white light is how I described my daughter; good poetry should be like that.
For the most part, Best American Poetry 2016 was like that. I felt cleansed.
Best American Poetry 2016 edited by Edward Hirsch went on sale September 6, 2016.
I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.