The Best American Erotic Poems: From 1800 to the Present

by David Lehman

There is a deep tradition of eroticism in American poetry. Thoughtful, provocative, moving, and sometimes mirthful, the poems collected in The Best American Erotic Poems celebrate this exuberant sensuality.

These poems range across the varied landscapes of love and sex and desire -- from the intimate parts of the body to the end of an affair, from passion to solitary self-pleasure. With candor and imagination, they capture the delights and torments of sex and sexuality, nudity, love, lust, and the secret life of fantasy.

David Lehman, the distinguished editor of the celebrated Best American Poetry series, has culled a witty, titillating, and alluring collection that starts with Francis Scott Key, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Hart Crane, encompasses Frank O'Hara, Anne Sexton, John Updike, Charles Simic, Billy Collins, Kevin Young, and Sharon Olds, and concludes with the rising stars of a whole new generation of versifiers, including Sarah Manguso, Ravi Shankar, and Brenda Shaughnessy.

In a section of the book that is sure to prompt discussion and further reading, the living poets write about their favorite works of erotic writing.

This book will delight, surprise, and inspire.

Genres: Poetry, Erotica, Anthologies, Fiction, Sexuality

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

David Lehman is a poet and the series editor for The Best American Poetry series. He teaches at The New School in New York City.

Reviews

[Julie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you think I can just walk by a book of erotic poems and not pick it up. . . well, you just don't know me.

I'm not only a lifelong lover of poetry, I'm a gal who likes to get her hands on erotica. It's either inspiring and I want to keep it, or it's awful, and I want to use it for a snarky review.

With erotica, it's easy to be cheesy (as evidenced by page 178 of this collection):
Your pink cowboy hat is my vagina. . .

But, as soon as I turned the page from that one, I flipped to page 112 and found:

You are the one
I am lit for.

Come with your rod
that twists
and is a serpent.

I am the bush.
I am burning
I am not consumed.

(Lucille Clifton, to a dark moses)

Okay, so I went ahead and gave it a slow nod and reached for my cigarettes. I quickly became convinced that this one was a keeper. It is.

This collection is edited by David Lehman and in his refreshingly succinct Introduction he writes:

You can safely say that pornography “appeals to the prurient interest,” whereas erotica has “literary or artistic value.” The key word in that formulation is “value,” and certainly, in the making of this book, I wanted poems that have added value to our lives and our culture.

Well, Mr. Lehman, you did a nice job here.

In this compilation of poems, beginning at 1800, you can find humor:

I love to masturbate, especially
After a poem of mine's accepted in
A literary magazine. Shit--
I open up that letter, smile awhile
And think, “This one goes out to Don, a total
Tool who I temped for in '89:
Data-mother-fucking-entry this.”
Who's got “inappropriate footwear” now?
“The inappropriate footwear's on the other
Foot today, you hick,” I tell him, tell
Them all, as lifting up my shirt, I notice
Nipples! Mine (O, gorgeous areolas!-
Pink as peonies)! And ass (my bouncy
Pony, prance in skintight smarty-pants!)!

(Jennifer Knox, Another Motive for Metaphor)

You can find philosophy:

. . . What is desire but the wish for some
relief from the self, the prisoner let out
into a small square of sunlight with a single
red flower and a bird crossing the sky, to lean back

against the bricks with the legs outstretched,
to feel the sun warming the brow, before returning
to one's mortal cage, steel doors slamming
in the cell block, steel bolts sliding shut?

(Stephen Dobyns, Desire)

You can find the scintillating:

I must tell you
this young tree
whose round and firm trunk
between the wet

pavement and the gutter
(where water
is trickling) rises
bodily

into the air with
one undulant
thrust half its height-
and then

dividing and waning
sending out
young branches on
all sides-

hung with cocoons
it thins till nothing is left of it
but two

eccentric knotted
twigs
bending forward
hornlike at the top

(William Carlos Williams, Young Sycamore)

You can find the depressing:

When I haven't been kissed in a long time,
I walk behind well-dressed women
on cold December mornings and shovel
the steamy exhalations pluming from their lips
down my throat with both hands, hoping
a single molecule will cling to my lungs.

I sneak into the ladies' room of a fancy
restaurant, dig in the trashcan for a napkin
where a woman checked her lipstick,
then go home, light candles, put on Barry White,
and gently press the napkin all over my body.

I think leeches are the most romantic creatures
because all they want to do is kiss. If only
someone invented a kinder, gentler leech,
I'd paint it bright pink and pretend
Winona Ryder's lips crawled off her face,
up my thigh, and were sucking on my swollen

bicep. When I haven't been kissed,
I create civil disturbances, then insult
the cops who show up, till one grabs me
by the collar and hurls me against the squad car,
so I can remember, at least for a moment,
what it's like to be touched.

(Jeffrey McDaniel, When a man hasn't been kissed)

You can find hetero and homo erotic poems here, as well as some fringe and fetish poems (but, truly, nothing too dark). But, unfortunately for me, maybe one too many poems with a. . . you fuck me like my Daddy fucked me theme, bringing this collection down from a five to a four.

For me, incest and pedophilia have no business in any erotic collection. ANY. As soon as you have made someone who is non-consenting your victim, you have lost any erotic connection for me.

Let's keep the erotic poetry collection for the CONSENTING ADULTS, shall we?

Do not mistake me; very few poems in here represent that aspect, but it would be irresponsible of me not to mention it in a review.

Also. . . I must admit that the poems represented here by Sharon Olds and Louise Gluck did nothing to improve my relationship with either one of those female poets. Still ain't happening for me, ladies.

But, all in all, this is a well thought-out collection and it is quite delicious.

And, for those of you who, like me, have been married for a REALLY LONG TIME, I leave you with a surprisingly erotic nod to marriage:

You keep me waiting in a truck
with its one good wheel stuck in the ditch,
while you piss against the south side of a tree.
Hurry. I've got nothing on under my skirt tonight.
That still excites you, but this pickup has no windows
and the seat, one fake leather thigh,
pressed close to mine is cold.
I'm the same size, shape, make as twenty years ago,
but get inside me, start the engine;
you'll have the strength, the will to move.
I'll pull, you push, we'll tear each other in half.
Come on, baby, lay me down on my back.
Pretend you don't owe me a thing
and maybe we'll roll out of here,
leaving the past stacked up behind us;
old newspapers nobody's ever got to read again.

(AI, Twenty-Year Marriage)

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely great; exactly what I was hoping for from a poetry anthology. I didn't love every poem, but I read every poem. I learned a little, I reconnected with good poets, I read lines out loud.

As a self-described poetry novice, eroticism is a good way to connect with verse and much like sex, even when it's bad...it's not THAT bad. It's also easier to compare and experience different styles when the subject is the same/similar. I probably should have started this year's "Poetry New Year's Resolution" with something like this.

And just like eroticism, many of the verses were just plain funny, playful, wistful, wrenching, stupid or boring. The subject, evidently, inspires the passion in writers.

[Gus · Rating 1 out of 5]

The best line: "Your pink cowboy hat is my vagina."

I have to say I'm shocked at the 3.74 star average! My husband, best friend and her husband spent a few hours reading these out loud and laughing hysterically tonight. There is nothing remotely sexy or erotic about these poems...especially the one where a boy wants to lick someone's armpit and then the guy dies. Huh.

[Nicole Rea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tennessee Williams' poem. Enough said.

[Marion · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this book out from the library and after renewing it twice, I figured I ought to break down and buy it. And I did because, happily, it's out in paperback.

Readers, this book was/is NOT a waste of money. It's loaded with passion, veiled hot passages, steamy yearnings, wit, angst, lust/love and even a funny poem that made me laugh out loud. My copy is hilighted and dog-eared and indispensable.

Anthologies are the way to go. This one is like a ten course meal with the finest wine and desserts. Buy it, read it, praise it to every poetry lover you know.

[Kirsty (alkalinekiwi) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this one sometime last year when one of the local bookstores was having a sale - picked up some decent books for $3 each.. score.

It took me a while to read through this, I'm not much of a poetry fan though I do enjoy them on occasion.
Some of the poems I enjoyed more than others - I will edit this review when I have my copy on hand to see the titles of my favourites.
It was interesting seeing the different interpretations of what one considers to be erotic.

I have someone in mind to send this book to though if they're not interested I know of others.

[A.J. Chilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I say The Best American Erotic Poems: From 1800 to the Present is a wonderful collection of erotic poems. It's got a little bit from almost every significant poet of its time, with the obvious exception of Frost, Sandburg, and Ginsberg. I think the omission of the latter is a big hurt when it came to selecting the poets, many of whom may get its biggest readership from those reading this book. But overall, I say the book is a success. A must-read for all.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The intro to this book by the editor, David Lehman, was amazing. Highly recommended. And, while I loathe his decision to include more Emily Dickinson poems than those of any other author, and to include a strange one by Robert Frost that didn't strike me as "erotic" at all, beginning on page 25 this book became incredible and unable to be put down.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was tempted to take a star away on account of the few poems here and there wherein the poet speaks of the opposite sex as "they" and bemoans the burdens put upon "us," but... Sexy is sexy, and making you forget almost anything is what it does best.

[Kandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection and have little markers tabbed all around the edges to prove it. Although there are some typical erotic poems that you see in many other compilations, this one was surprisingly fun to read because the more well known poems were few and far between.

[Ako31 · Rating 4 out of 5]

the best, best poems start midway through the 20th c.

my favorite:

Their Sex Life

one failure
on top of another

-a.r. ammons

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

hubba hubba

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a bedside table book. This anthology of erotic poetry from 1800 through 2005ish contains poems from many known American poets that range from tender and loving to titillatingly graphic.

[Tina]

part of my resolution to read more poetry in 2009 - figure this is a good place to start!

[CoolBreeze1978 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a great idea for a book, but I only liked about four or five of the poems.

[Michelle Smitherman · Rating 2 out of 5]

only enjoyed a select few of the collected pieces. But as always loved Whitmans work.

[Daniela · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Book praised for not being as bad as it could have been..."

[Lana · Rating 1 out of 5]

These were ridiculous and gross too in parts. There was nothing even worth a 2 star rating!

[Kalee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shirt, by Jane Kenyon, made the entire book worth buying.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the poems are delightful; others are cheesy. But overall, a nice collection.

Some favorites: E. Dickinson, A.Rich, A. Sexton, O.K. Davis

[Meryl Natchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthologies are tough, but this one has some eclectic choices as well as old standbys. Worth a read.

[Mills College Library]

811.00803 B5611 2008

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Seems I either do not understand what erotic poetry is or the editors of the several collections I have read do not. I honestly think it is somewhat of both.

[Fireflydances · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have come back to this beautiful work over and over.

[Grady · Rating 4 out of 5]

So a practical challenge of reading this book is that after a while it gets boring. That said, this collection embraces greater variety than I expected. Some of the poems are ‘erotic’, in the sense that they are saturated with embodiment or desire. Some of the poems are about sex but are not erotic, instead hitting registers of irony, lament, or alienation - these poems are actually pretty helpful as a break and a reset between the rest. Nevermind the Goodreads tags, I think none of the poems are ‘erotica’, in the sense of being designed to sexually arouse the reader. There’s a fine diversity of sexual orientations on display - gay, straight, lesbian - but for most of the poems, orientation isn’t determined and isn’t an important factor.

For me, favorites included W.H. Auden, The Platonic Blow; Ruth Stone, Coffee and Sweet Rolls (about the man who would become her husband, written many years later), Galway Kinnell, Last Gods (nature!); Donald Hall, When I Was Young (presumably written to/about his much beloved wife, the poet Jane Kenyon, also represented in this collection with the witty poem, The Shirt); and Ellen Bass, Gate C22 (on an airport reunion), among others.

It is striking to me how many of the poems in this collection about young desire were written by poets in their sixties or older. As the editor notes in the introduction, the Alexandrian Greek poet Constantine Cavafy is the absolute master of erotic nostalgia, though not eligible for this collection of American poets. But most of these poems aren’t nostalgic or trying to be; it’s just that it seems to have taken decades of experience - with life? or just with words? - for these poets to be able to articulate the sexual experiences and lessons of their youth.

[Stephanie Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of poems was really fun. As with any collection of poems, some are amazing, some are good, some are okay, and some are crap. This book is all about erotic poems and of course, some were very naughty and some were metaphors that were not so naughty.

This book includes all the great poets, Dickinson and Whitman....but did not include my favorite poet (Nikki Giovanni). That would have made the book 5 stars. This book was not a diverse view of american poetry, in my opinion.

[jane bro]

sooo many more erotic poems that should have made it in this collection (like of course you can't add them all) but i thought the poems in this were not as purposefully or meticulously selected as described. two new poems i discovered & LOVED were "On Reading Poorly Transcribed Erotica," by J. Alexander & "When a man hasn't been kissed," by Jeffrey McDaniel.

[Robert Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poems from 1800 to 2008. Most quite subtle, full of euphemisms, symbols, & allegories. A very few with clear anatomical description and/or coarse language.

[Kate Elliott]

Lotttta over-spiritualized disembodiment going on for a book about sex. Way to go American poetic tradition. Hope you learn to be an animal someday.

[Miriam Villazón Valbuena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of my favourites: “Hunk of Rock”, “The Couple”, and “The Evangelist”.