Since 1988, David Lehman has chosen a celebrated American poet to select 75 poems for the annual Best of American Poetry anthology. To celebrate the series' 25th anniversary, he invited former poet laureate Robert Pinsky to choose 100 poems for inclusion in The Best of the Best American Poetry. All lists necessarily reflect the personal taste and judgment of their compilers, but it takes special chutzpah and perspective to pick the poems that deserve to make the best cut twice--and Pinsky's fine collection proves that he's got the chops to do it.
It's hard not to nitpick the exclusion of one's personal favorites--where is Goldbarth, or Daniels, or Hudgins, or Kleinzahler, or Fairchild?--but it's more remarkable to read the broad selection of poems Pinsky has included. His selection is so rich and diverse one can't help but find several poems that will brighten any winter day. "The Opaque" by Mark Halliday is just one such discovery--a poem which is itself a kind of list of people, places, news, songs, even words that are opaque to real understanding yet are very real. We encounter them in a kind of global darkness, but, as the poem concludes:
How long is this tunnel?
Does it go somewhere? Oh, never mind,
here comes the light of day.
The Best of the Best American Poetry is a collection that never stops bringing light. --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kansas.