American Poetry Now: Pitt Poetry Series Anthology

by Ed Ochester (editor)

American Poetry Now is a comprehensive collection of the best work from the renowned Pitt Poetry Series. Since its inception in 1967, the series has been a vehicle for America's finest contemporary poets. The series list includes Poet Laureate Billy Collins, Toi Derricotte, Denise Duhamel, Lynn Emanuel, Bob Hicok, Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Ted Kooser, Larry Levis, Sharon Olds, Alicia Suskin Ostriker, Virgil Suárez, Afaa Michael Weaver, David Wojahn, Dean Young, and many others. Throughout its forty-year history, the Pitt Poetry Series has provided a voice for the diversity that is American poetry, representing poets from many backgrounds without allegiance to any one school or style. American Poetry Now is a true representation of contemporary American poetry. Ed Ochester, series editor for nearly thirty years, has assembled a quintessential selection-along with biographies and photos, an enlightening introduction, and a suggested list for further reading, all in a highly accessible format.  American Poetry Now is a sweeping anthology that will delight poetry fans, students, teachers, and general readers alike.

Genres: Poetry

408 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Ed Ochester is the editor of the Pitt Poetry Series and is a member of the core faculty of the Bennington MFA Writing Seminars. He has published seven books of poems, as well as eight limited editions, and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the George Garrett Award from the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, and the "artist of the year" award from the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Poems of his were selected for Best American Poems 2007 and 2013.

Reviews

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed it and learned some new names. A wide variety of poets and styles.

[Paige Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This sounds like it was written by middle-aged Tumblr users. Cover is super flimsy. Poetry ranges from okay to stereotypical "counterculture" blathering trying too hard to be quirky.

[Brian Brodeur · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an anthology of poets who've published at least one collection with the Pitt Poetry Series. I made three excellent discoveries, i.e. poets I'd never heard of or had only read small selections of in journals and magazines: C.G. Hanzlicek, Malena Morling, Richard Shelton. Check it out!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent choice for an intro. to poetry text. Many of the important contemporary writers are represented.