The Best American Poetry 2012
Guest Editor Mark Doty,
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: 2012; Guest Editor Mark Doty. The Best American Poetry: 2011; Guest Editor Kevin Young. 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.

Mark Doty's Introductory Essay.
Poets. Places of first publication.

Introductory Essays to
The Best American Poetry 2012

BUY: The Best American Poetry 2012 Guest Editor Mark Doty, Series Editor David Lehman

David Lehman: Series Editor

• 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 Mark Doty as the 2012 guest editor.
• Comments in his foreword:

  T.S. Eliot once wrote: "Upon giving the matter a little attention, we perceive that criticism, far from being a simple and orderly field of beneficent activity, from which impostors can be readily ejected, is no better than a Sunday park of contending and contentious orators, who have not even arrived at the articulation of their differences."

Mark Doty: Guest Editor

Poets of
The Best American Poetry 2012

BUY: The Best American Poetry 2012 Guest Editor Mark Doty, Series Editor David Lehman

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

• Anne Carson
• Billy Collins
• Franz Wright
• Jane Hirshfield
• Kay Ryan
• Mary Oliver
• Natasha Trethewey
• Stephen Dunn

Best of the "Best" poems include:

• Marie Howe's "Magdalene — The Seven Devils".

At the end of the book, 44 pages are allocated for poets' comments. Often a poet's comments considerably illuminate — or are even more interesting than — the poem.

Birth Decades of the Poets

BUY: The Best American Poetry 2012 Guest Editor Mark Doty, Series Editor David Lehman

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

• For the 2012 issue (guest editor Mark Doty): again the mode returns to an earlier decade: the 1950s. Omits date for three DTS poets (declined-to-state birth year): Steve Heighton, Brenda Hillman, and Rick Bardot.
• For the 2011 issue (guest editor Kevin Young): the mode is the 1960s (after taking into account the four coy poets who declined to state their birth year for BAP despite their birth years being published on the Web; two are from the 1940s and two from the 1960s).
• For the 2010 issue (guest editor Amy Gerstler): again 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).
• For the 2008 issue (guest editor Charles Wright) the mode returns to an earlier decade: the 1950s.
• For the 2007 issue (guest editor Heather McHugh) it vaulted forward three decades to the 1970s.
• For the 2006 issue (guest editor Billy Collins, b. 1941), it was the 1940s.

From 2006 to the current issue, quick glances at birth dates give this approximation:

Birth decade	2012 issue [omits 3 DTS]	2011 issue.	2010 issue.	2009 issue.	2008 issue.	2007 issue.	2006 issue.	1995 issue.
2000s	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1990s	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1980s	5	6	2	3	1	1	0	0
1970s	10+5=15	10+3=13	10+1=11	9	10+2=12	10+6=16	10+1=11	0
1960s	10+5=15	10+6+2=18	10+7=17	10+8=18	10	10+3=13	10+2=12	7
1950s	10+7=17	10+6=16	10+10+1=21	10+3=13	10+10+1=21	10+5=15	10+4=14	10+10+10=30
1940s	9+2=11	9+2=11	10+5=15	10+9=19	10+6=16	10+5=15	10+10+3=23	10+10=20
1930s	7	5	4	6	8	6	10	5
1920s	2	6	5	6	6	6	3	10+2=12
1910s	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0

Places of first publication before poems appeared in
The Best American Poetry 2012

BUY: The Best American Poetry 2012 Guest Editor Mark Doty, Series Editor David Lehman

Acknowledges first appearance in 41 publications, which is the lowest it has been in eight years

	2012 issue	2011 issue	2010 issue	2009 issue	2008 issue	2007 issue	2006 issue	2005 issue
Number of publications as source of poems	41	53	52	57	45	45	52	60

Places of first publication for this collection are:

1. American Poetry Review (The)
2. Antioch Review (The)
3. Barrow Street
4. Beloit Poetry Journal
5. Boston Review
6. Cincinnati Review (The)
7. Colorado Review (The)
8. Common (The)
9. Conduit
10. Five Points
11. Gettysburg Review (The)
12. Granta
13. Green Mountains Review
14. Gulf Coast
15. Harvard Review
16. Hudson Review (The)
17. Kenyon Review (The)
18. Lambda Literary Review
19. Literary Review (The)
20. Mead: The Magazine of Literature and Libations
21. Memorious
22. Nation (The)
23. New American Writings
24. New England Review
25. New Ohio Review
26. New Yorker (The)
27. Ploughshares
28. Poetry
29. Poetry Daily
30. Prairie Schooner
31. River Styx
32. Salmagundi
33. Seneca Review
34. Southern Review (The)
35. Southwest Review
36. Subtropics
37. Threepenny Review (The)
38. Tin House
39. Umbrella
40. Witness
41. Zoland Poetry

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 and poets How to Write Poetry

Copyright © 2012-2015 by J. Zimmerman, except for quotations. All rights reserved.

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