Paul Hoover's Postmodern American Poetry was first published in 1994; the second edition of this massive anthology retains all the poets from that volume while adding new voices. But what is postmodern American poetry? In his perceptive introduction, Hoover tells us the term covers poetry from 1950 to the present that suggests "an experimental approach to composition" and a worldview that "sets itself apart from mainstream culture and the sentimentality and self-expressiveness of its life in writing." (Or, as novelist Geoff Nicholson once called it, "linguistic cage-fighting"--no holds-barred poetry.)
This impressive collection contains poems from the oral poetics of the Beats, performance poetries, the "writerly" poems of the New York School, language poetry, post-language lyrics, conceptual poetry, cyberpoetics,and proceduralism. Confused yet? Don't be. Much of this poetry plays with interpretations, encourages multiple readings, flips language upside down and welcomes new visual looks on the page.
Each of the poets gathered in this anthology is given an insightful and thoughtful short biography along with their poems. Hoover starts with a diverse pantheon of early masters--Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Frank O'Hara--leading up to more recent poets such as Ben Lerner, Noah Eli Gordon and Noelle Kocot. At the end are 15 essays that discuss postmodern poetics. Kudos to Hoover for pulling together a volume with hundreds of poems you won't encounter in your everyday reading. Essential. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher