The Best American Poetry 2009
Guest Editor David Wagoner,
Series Editor David Lehman

Highlights of Poetry. Index of poetry. How to Write Poetry. Books read.

How to write specific forms: Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Tanka. Concrete. Ghazal. Lai. Pantoum. Prose poem. Rondeau. Rubáiyát. Sestina. Skaldic verse. Sonnet. Terza rima. Triolet. Tritina. Villanelle.

Poets: Adam Zagajewski. Aleda Shirley. Anne Carson. Bashō. The Beowulf Poet. Billy Collins. Billy Collins exercise. Snorri's Edda. Carl Dennis. Charles Atkinson. Chase Twichell. Corey Marks. François Villon Franz Wright. Galway Kinnell. Gary Young. The Gawain Poet. J. D. McClatchy. J. Zimmerman. J. Zimmerman (haiku). J. Zimmerman (tanka). Jack Gilbert. James Maughn. Jane Hirshfield. Jean Vengua. Jorie Graham. Karen Braucher. Karl Shapiro. Kay Ryan. Laureate Poets: Britain; USA. Len Anderson. Les Murray. Li-Young Lee. Linda Pastan. Louise Glück. Mary Oliver. Nordic Skalds. Pulitzer Poetry Prize (U.S.A). Rainer Maria Rilke Richard Hugo. Robert Bly. Sappho. Sara Teasdale. Shiki (haiku). Snorri's Edda. Stephen Dunn. Ted Kooser. W.S. Merwin.

Series Editor David Lehman. Compare with others in series: The Best American Poetry: 2010; Guest Editor Amy Gerstler. The Best American Poetry: 2009; Guest Editor David Wagoner. The Best American Poetry: 2008; Guest Editor Charles Wright. The Best American Poetry: 2007; Guest Editor Heather McHugh. The Best American Poetry: 2006; Guest Editor Billy Collins. The Best American Poetry: 2005; Guest Editor Paul Muldoon.

Poets. Places of first publication.

Introductory Essays to
The Best American Poetry 2009.

BUY: The Best American Poetry 2009 Guest Editor David Wagoner, Series Editor David Lehman

David Lehman:

• Began The Best American Poetry series in 1988. The controversial Best of the title probably helped the series get even more press than the worthiness of the contents.
• Continues as the series editor.
• Selected David Wagoner as the 2009 guest editor.

Selection criteria by editor David Wagoner for The Best American Poetry 2009

BUY: The Best American Poetry 2009 Guest Editor David Wagoner, Series Editor David Lehman

Notice the mode (most common) of the birth decades of the poets:

• For the 2006 issue (guest editor Billy Collins), it was the 1940s.
• For the 2007 issue (guest editor Heather McHugh) it vaulted forward three decades to the 1970s.
• For the 2008 issue (guest editor Charles Wright) the mode returns to an earlier decade: the 1950s.
• For the 2009 issue (guest editor David Wagoner): bimodal with the 1940s (as for the 2006 issue) and the 1960s (the strongest represented that the 60s have been).

In the 2006 to 2009 issues, quick glances at birth dates give this approximation:

Decade of birth.	2009 issue (Estimated for Pastan and Sleigh who decline to state).	2008 issue.	2007 issue.	2006 issue.	1995 issue.
2000s	0	0	0	0	0
1990s	0	0	0	0	0
1980s	3	1	1	0	0
1970s	9	10+2=12	10+6=16	10+1=11	0
1960s	10+8=18	10	10+3=13	10+2=12	7
1950s	10+3=13	10+10+1=21	10+5=15	10+4=14	10+10+10=30
1940s	10+9=19	10+6=16	10+5=15	10+10+3=23	10+10=20
1930s	6	8	6	10	5
1920s	6	6	6	3	10+2=12
1910s	0	0	1	0	0
1900s	0	0	0	0	0

Poets of
The Best American Poetry 2009

Of the 75 poets whose work is included (one poems each), we have web pages on:

• Billy Collins,
• Denise Duhamel,
• J.D.McClatchy,
• W.S. Merwin,
• Mary Oliver,
• Linda Pastan,
• Natasha Trethewey.

Best of these "Best" poems include:

• John Ashbery's "They Knew What They Wanted".
• Caleb Barber's "Beasts and Violins".
• Mark Bibbins's "Concerning the Land to the South of Our Neighbors to the North".
• Catherine Carter's "The Book of Steve".
• Denise Duhamel's "How It Will End".
• Barbara Hamby's "Ode to Airheads, Hairdos, Trains to and from Paris".
• J.D.McClatchy's "Lingering Doubts".
• Linda Pastan's "Insomnia".

Places of first publication before poems appeared in
The Best American Poetry 2009

BUY: The Best American Poetry 2009 Guest Editor David Wagoner, Series Editor David Lehman

Acknowledges first publications in 57 publications:

• 27% more than each of the previous two years
• 13% above the mean of 50.5 for previous four years

	2009 issue	2008 issue	2007 issue	2006 issue	2005 issue
Number of publications as source of poems	57	45	45	52	60

Places of first publication for the 2009 collection are:

1. AGNI
2. Alaska Quarterly Review
3. American Literary Review
4. American Poetry Review
5. The American Scholar
6. Antioch Review
7. Asheville Poetry Review
8. Barrow Street
9. Callaloo
10. CALYX
11. Cimaron Review
12. The Cincinnati Review
13. Fence
14. FIELD
15. Five Points
16. Fulcrum
17. The Georgia Review
18. The Gettysburg Review
19. Gulf Coast
20. Harper's
21. The Hudson Review
22. Image
23. Indiana Review
24. The Iowa Review
25. Jacket
26. The Journal
27. The Kenyon Review
28. La Petite Zine
29. London Review of Books
30. Margie: The American Journal of Poetry
31. Measure
32. Mid-American Review
33. The Missouri Review
34. The Nation
35. The New Criterion
36. New England Review
37. The New Republic
38. The New York Quarterly
39. The New Yorker
40. No Tell Motel
41. OCHO
42. Painted Bride Quarterly
43. The Paris Review
44. Parnassus: Poetry in Review
45. Pleiades: A Journal of New Writing
46. Ploughshares
47. Poet Lore
48. Poetry
49. Prairie Schooner
50. Provincetown Arts
51. Salthill
52. Shenandoah
53. The Southern Review
54. Southwest Review
55. Third Coast
56. Vanitas
57. The Virginia Quarterly Review

Links and Books

Links and Books.

• Laureate: the Poets Laureate of Britain
• Laureate: the Poets Laureate of the U.S.A.
• Best Poems by the Best Poets - Some Lists of Winners.
• Other Books of Poetry Form.

Related pages: Books of Poetry Form. Alphabetic list of poetry forms, etc. Poetry Home. How to Write Poetry.

Copyright © 2010-2015 by J. Zimmerman, except for quotations. All rights reserved.

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