The Best American Poetry 2024

by David Lehman, Mary Jo Salter

Renowned poet Mary Jo Salter, whose command of verse forms and high intelligence is universally acknowledged, selects the poems for the 2024 edition of The Best American Poetry, “a ‘best’ anthology that really lives up to its title” (Chicago Tribune).The Best American Poetry series has been “one of the mainstays of the poetry publication world” (Academy of American Poets) since 1988. Each volume presents a curated selection of the year’s most brilliant, striking, and innovative poems, with comments from the poets themselves offering unique insight into their work. Here, guest editor Mary Jo Salter, whose own poems display a sublime wit “driven by a compulsion to confront the inexplicable” (James Longenbach), has picked seventy-five poems that capture the dynamism of American poetry today. The series and guest editors contribute valuable introductory essays that assess the current state of American poetry, and this year’s edition is certain to capture the attention of both Best American Poetry loyalists and newcomers to the most important poetry anthology of our time.

Genres: Poetry, School, Anthologies

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 3, 2024

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

[Books_the_Magical_Fruit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find it so interesting how some poems capture your interest right away and some don’t. I don’t have enough experience with poetry to know the ins and outs of how each poem in this anthology was written, but there were definitely some that I loved. There’s some weird ones in here, too, ones that leave you scratching your head. There are a few that seem to be stream of consciousness about rather mundane things, and I found that I didn’t connect with those as much. There are a wide variety of poems here, so there’s something for everyone. I enjoyed making my way through this anthology.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Rob Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

No poem in this collection leaped out to me as one that jolted me into a higher spiritual-emotional state or even made me want to re-read it…but what are the odds that in a given year, a poem of genius that will last through the centuries would be written? The editors have to choose from what is available.

The poems are nicely varied in style, form, and tone. Occasional stanzas felt especially worthy to me, though no single poem will be added to my favorites list.

Intelligent diction, clever turns of phrase, isolated unique images – all worthy things –popped up often enough, but these alone are not sufficient. The parts of a poem must also form a satisfying gestalt that is a pleasure to read and re-read; they must be –as my old acting teacher used to say of a great performance–“excruciatingly exciting” to encounter.

In this collection, nothing moved me to my core, and, these days, that’s what I want from art: to be moved to my core. Is that asking too much? 🙂

The last 40 pages of the book are bios of the poets along with whatever commentary they chose to add about the creation of their poems. These were mildly interesting; I tended to skim through them.

Poems I did find touching and potent at least in part—and that I would rate higher than the collection as a whole—include:
--"Amenorrhea", Julia Alvarez
-- "Apophasis at the All-Night Rite Aid", Catharine Barnett
-- "At Sixty-Five", Henri Cole
--"Cleptopolitan", Brendan Constantine"
-- "Avoidance", Elaine Equi"
--"After the Ecstasy, the Laundry", Brandel France de Bravo
--"A Message from Tony Hoagland", Jeffrey Harrison
-- "Self's the Man", Richard Kenney
--"Couplets", Maggie Millner
--"Joy in Service on Rue Tagore", Paul Muldoon
--"Fast Track: Beijing, Montana, Harlem", Jacqueline Osherow
--"The Bluebird", Karen Solie
-- "The Days", Adrienne Su
--"Diptych", Kevin Young
--"The Man with the Yellow Balloon", Matthew Yeager

[Joseph Dante · Rating 2 out of 5]

Every year brings a new guest editor for this anthology, so what you take away largely depends on that editor’s tastes and preferences. Unfortunately, Mary Jo Salter and I don’t seem to have similar tastes at all. Here you will find many meandering, longwinded (not the same as long, necessarily) poems with prose-like tendencies. Many poems felt just like a lineated stream-of-consciousness. Many poems felt like they could be plucked out of someone’s journal, as is, unedited. Many poems about New York. Many poems about the process of writing and writers (or other artists). Everything here felt very insular, like the world of these poems was so very small; I kept wanting them to look outward. This feels especially egregious in the year 2024. I’m just so disappointed here at the lack of urgency, texture, and imagination, as I feel like I am constantly reading wonderfully evocative poems elsewhere literally every day.

This year’s anthology also seems to be a classic instance of publishing poets rather than poems—nearly all the writers included are already very well-established. Even the “new” poets that Salter highlights in her introduction were names I already knew. Come on.

Here are the few highlights that prevented me from giving this anthology one star:

“First Philosophy” by Joshua Bennett
“The Remnant” by Kwame Davis
“How to Fold” by Terrence Hayes
“Closure” by Omotara James
“Sentimental Evening” by Natalie Scenters-Zapico
“The Days” by Adrienne Su
“The Field Is Hot and Hotter” by Claire Wahmanholm
“Ashkenazi Birthmark” by Michael Waters

[Sarkis Antonyan · Rating 2 out of 5]

i tabbed only 10 of the 75 total poems. this is not 2024’s best writing and mary jo salter you have SHIT taste in poetry. waaaaaaaaaay too much ars poetica and sooooo many long-winded, simply unending poems which i didn’t appreciate because i just don’t like rlly long prose-esque poems all that much. her introduction frankly was rlly boring and random so i should have known from the start. also! the “best” poems of late shouldn’t mostly come from the new yorker, or the atlantic, or poetry, or the paris review, or harvard review. i question why exactly i started reading this series. ok bye.

[S꩜phie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe the best volume in the series??? Or maybe I'm biased bc of this golden age of poetry we are living in 🥹

[katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

oscillating between 2 and 3 stars. i’m kind of mad at myself for not enjoying this more…. maybe mary jo salter and i just have different tastes. i’ve also been reading this during shift breaks, so perhaps i’m not in the right headspace. some of the pieces in here i really love, but i was a bit underwhelmed on the whole. i think i will revisit this at a later point. i do have some gold stars though:

- “kyiv” by howard altmann
- “cleptopolitan” by brendan constantine
- “a message from tony hoagland” by jeffrey harrison
- “japan” by eve jones
- “in praise of mystery: a poem for europa” by ada limón

[Angelica Esquivel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am overall meh about this collection. There are A LOT of ars poetica in here--and don't get me wrong, I love a meta moment as much as the next person, but the sheer number of them made this collection feel rather unbalanced. Poems like "The First and Final Poem Is the Sun" and "Avoidance" didn't seem to emerge from an organic sense of urgency or emotion or even playfulness, but feel like they were written because the writer is a Poet and they need to keep producing Poems to fill their next Collection. (And it seems that a lot of poets were included in this collection not because they wrote a strong piece, but because they've written strong pieces in the past and now have name recognition that will help this book sell.)

That being said, there were a good amount of poems in here that I found striking, fresh, and resonant:

"The Deer" by Ama Codjoe
"Cleptopolitan" by Brendan Constantine
"A Lighthouse Keeper Considers Love" by Gabriella Fee
"Domestic Retrograde" by John Hennessy
"Pando's Grove" by W.J. Herbert
"Closure" by Omotara James
"My Brothers, the Olmec" by Yusef Komunyakaa
"Haiku Garden" by Harryette Mullen
"The Hat" by Jane Shore
"The Field Is Hot and Hotter" by Claire Wahmanholm <-my all-time fave
"Ashkenazi Birthmark" by Michael Waters
"from The Life of Tu Fu" by Eliot Weinberger

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to read poetry all the time and have recently wanted to re-enter the genre, so I decided to give this collection a try—I've heard great things about the series. I enjoyed several of the poems, but I don't know if this is a great option for readers who are new to (or simply want to try) the poetry genre. Some of the poems have a lot of depth and nuance and may be hard to understand if you only give them one cursory read or have never read poetry before. On the other hand, the complexity of the poems also lends to their beauty, and many of them deal with universal human emotions, so the poems may still resonate with readers, even if they are unfamiliar with the poetry genre itself.

[Phoebe]

i’ve been reading this for AGES, so i am inevitably biased by recency but i liked matthew yeager’s “the man with the yellow balloon” so much i looked for a linkable version and discovered it was originally published without my favorite line “and I was so in love with New York City / that I even liked it when it scared me.” people may hate the cult of nyc but what i love is romanticizing the place you live and finding beauty in both the mundane and the weird <3. i believe my other favorites were jacqueline osherow’s “fast track: beijing, montana, harlem,” armen davoudian’s “conscription,” henri cole’s “at sixty five,” and kim addonizio’s “existential elegy.”

[C Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for a peek into this collection. I wouldn’t say run out and purchase it today. It arrived on shelves yesterday, but if you know someone who appreciates collegiate writing this may be the book. Most of the poems selected are from the New Yorker , Hopkins review, journals and such.

There are a few nice surprises “ APoem For Europa” from NASA website.
Haiku Garden, Pinsky’s Proverbs of Limbo
And two poets I favor Terrance Hayes (How to Fold) and
Jane Shore’s The Hat

[Ace Boggess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent volume in the series. Wonderful poems by the likes of Elaine Equi and Rita Dove, Kevin Young and Charles Martin. Sure, it’s always a bit unnerving to see some long dead in here (Mark Strand) as though he came back from the grave to write this poem, but at least he’s only been gone for a decade unlike last year Auden who’d been dead for half a century. All in all, I enjoyed this volume. Well worth reading.

[Tyler is totally literate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the wide selection of poetry. There were so many different topics covered so it was easy to find ones I really liked, even if not every one was for me. I’ve been introduced to a lot of great new poets!

[Eugenia Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The "Best American" annual anthology series is always a great touchstone for what's happening in literary short stories, poetry, nonfiction, and several other genres including Fantasy and Science Fiction. This issue is edited by a former professor at my MFA program, so I know he's plugged into what's going on in contemporary poetry.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes poetry collections are hit or miss, and this one hits the mark. The series editor has long experience and collected carried collection of American poets that run the spectrum of styles and focus.

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

All these years later and people are still struggling to write a better poem than "There Once Was A Man From Nantucket."

[eris · Rating 3 out of 5]

reading this series for the second year in a row & my past issues with anthologies as a whole remain present in full force. mary jo salter’s selection for 2024’s edition is certainly timely and quite broad, but ultimately our personal tastes in poetry diverge & i found myself frustrated or bored with several of the poems she included.

[Nancy Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are *a lot* of very long rambling poems in this collection. They were more like short stories broken into lines rather than poems. If it didn't grab me by the end of the first page, I skipped it.

[Pais · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with any collection of poems from a wide array of writers, the 2024 volume of Best American Poetry will have poems you enjoy more than others. But these are varied enough to have something that anyone can enjoy or find delight in.

My personal faves upon first reading (links provided where I could find them online):

• Julia Alvarez, "Amenorrhea"
• Ama Codjoe, "The Deer"
• Billy Collins, "The Monet Conundrum"
• Kwame Dawes, "The Remnant"
• Jessica Greenbaum, "Each Other Moment"
• Rachel Hadas, "Voyage"
• Ada Limón, "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa"
• Harryette Mullen, "Haiku Garden"
• Natalie Scenters-Zapico, "Sentimental Evening"
• Jane Shore, "The Hat"
• Adrienne Su, "The Days"
• Michael Waters, "Ashkenazi Birthmark"

Check it out if you want to be exposed to some great new(er) poems!

[Paul Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I WONDER WHETHER David Lehman is thinking of hanging it up. There's a valedictory tone to his foreword this year--reflections on Keats's "When I Have Fears," on the passing of Louise Glück, some parting advice he gave to one of his classes. Hmm.

And can we read anything into this being the first BAP to include some of Lehman's own poetry? We get thirteen stanzas from a longer poem called Ithaca that similarly feels like closing up shop, as though Lehman were about to light out for the territory where oars are taken for winnowing fans.

That's not all. Three of this year's contributors--Glück, Saskia Hamilton, and Mark Strand--are no longer alive, and two of the poems are about getting messages from dead poets: Jeffrey Harrison's "A Message from Tony Hoagland" and Mitch Sisskind's "Jack Benny," which begins, "John Ashbery called me after he died [...]."

Is Lehman thinking hard about taking his journey west?

I hope Lehman hangs around for a while, but he is getting up in years (born 1948) and he has been managing BAP since its beginnings in 1988, so he's certainly earned the right to hand it off.

This year's guest editor is veteran anthologist Mary Jo Salter. Salter gives us a wide swath of the middle of the road here. The poems that are not from the New Yorker or one of the longer-established reviews (Kenyon, Gettysburg, Hudson, Sewanee) sound like they could well have been from the New Yorker or one of the longer-established reviews. All solid and professional, but a bit watered down, with no surprises.

Nice to have a crown of sonnets from A. E. Stallings, though. Are these coming back? Sara Nicholson had one in her recent book.

[Cherryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Best American Poetry 2024" is a rich and thought-provoking anthology of some of the most remarkable contemporary poetry in the United States. Edited by David Lehman, this collection showcases a diverse range of voices and styles, offering a glimpse into the vibrant landscape of American poetry today.

The anthology features poems that explore a variety of themes, including love, loss, identity, politics, and the human experience. The poets featured in this collection demonstrate a mastery of language, form, and imagery, inviting readers to engage with their work on a deeper level.

While some of the poetry may be challenging or complex for readers who are new to the genre, the overall experience of reading these poems is rewarding and enriching. The collection encourages readers to grapple with difficult themes and to appreciate the beauty and power of language.

Lehman's selections not only celebrate the talents of established poets but also highlight the work of emerging voices in the field. This anthology serves as a testament to the continued relevance and vitality of poetry in our contemporary cultural landscape.

Overall, "The Best American Poetry 2024" is an outstanding collection that showcases the diversity and richness of American poetry. This anthology is a must-read for anyone interested in exploring the genre and engaging with the work of some of the most talented poets writing today.

** Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. **

[Shervin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good poems. Some meh poems. Nothing terrible, very little that feels amazing.

Some lines I liked:

"I wander the all-night uptown Rite AID
where the handsome new pharmacist,
come midnight, shows me to the door
and prescribes the moon,
which has often helped before."

"and sunset was sunset because you said
'Look at that!' to someone you loved."

"My brother's ex-wife won't speak to him.
Everyone has an everyone who won't speak
to him. We're all salt and memory, but I can't
say this. I ask my brother not to die in Japan.
Everyone has an ex-wife who is a drug."

"The first and final poem is the sun"

"Clashes of theocracies.
The annals of begats and the orders of
Names both balance on the triple pillars
Of Identity of Mystery of Law, all bound
And refuted by the cardboard belt
God wears to amuse the angels."

"Like consciousness lit

For a moment by the thought
That God is worlding, worlding now...

...

But poetry's selfbeing selves itself
Without self-explanation, selves

Without explanatory power,
The way divine creation does-

The way the starry night-
Appears-"

"Three years gone. Three thaws I've seen sun dis-
inter fall's filth, flown nowhere. Three wintry-weepy
autopsy-turvy seasons taught to forecast loss"


"...These walls,

few windows, hold
the world -what the world

couldn't say till someone
saw it first..."

[AcademicEditor · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things I appreciate most about this series is how each guest editor’s unique taste shapes the collection. This year, Salter’s influence is evident in the mix of well-known poets and emerging voices she’s chosen. Many of the poems feature ruminations on aging and on human interactions with technology, which seem to be on the mind of Salter herself.

Standouts for me included Julia Alvarez’s “Amenorrhea,” with its haunting meditation on fertility, and Billy Collins’ “The Monet Conundrum,” which cleverly plays with the idea of repetition and difference in art. These poems lingered with me long after I’d turned the page, and I found myself returning for another read.

That said, not every poem resonated with me. Poetry is such a subjective experience, and while some readers might find a particular poem deeply moving, others might struggle to connect with it. There were moments when I found myself feeling a bit disconnected, especially with some of the more experimental or stream-of-consciousness pieces. However, that’s the beauty of an anthology like this—it offers something for everyone, even if not every piece hits the mark.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Kendra Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best American Poetry presents a super easy way to figure out what's new in poetryland. Which is especially helpful if you are broadening your poetry repertoire & want to get a feel for what (and who) you like to read.

Because I'm a nerd, I also enjoyed being pushed to explore poetry I'd usually pass on. Several poems presented a serious challenge for me--either in form or tone--but I trudged along. Because I'm always curious if my first twinge of hesitation is about lack of familiarity or true distaste. Sometimes it was, in fact, both.

If you're at all familiar with poetry, you'll recognize some of the names included in the 2024 edition. But even more exciting, to me, are the newcomers. I love to catch a glimpse of authors or poets at the beginning of their careers.

But also... Maggie Smith's poem was the one that grabbed me the hardest. And she's not new to me or to the poetry world. But God, I was glad she was included, so I could fall in love with her work all over again.

Want a copy of Best American Poetry 2024? Buy it here & support Bookish: https://bookshop.org/a/4334/978198218...

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been reading this series off and on for thirty years and this is my favorite edition by far. This year’s editor picked so many poems that I really enjoyed. So often in the past most of the poems have seemed overly academic, pretentious, odd, or (forgive me) boring, and I had pretty much given up on ever enjoying these books. I marked so many poems in this year’s to come back to, though. I am definitely a fan of Mary Jo Salter as an editor.

As examples, here is the end of Julia Alvarez’s Amenorrhea:

Month after month
I neither bleed nor bear.
This woman’s barrenness
revives the poet’s fear—
the line stops here.

Or Billy Collins’ poem, The Monet Conundrum:

Is every one of these poems
different from the others,
he asked himself,
as the rain quieted down,

or are they all the same poem,
haystack after haystack
at different times of day,
different shadows and shades of hay?

If I could only own one year’s anthology, this would definitely be my pick.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

[Robert Yokoyama · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poem titles and themes are the best aspects of this poetry collection. I love the poem "Existential Elegy" because of the clever use of assonance in the title This poem makes me ponder the meaning of my existence too. "Fast Track: Beijing, Montana, Harlem" has a title that interests me, because these three places I have never visited. I love reading the connection the author has with two daughters living in such faraway places. I love the poem "Miasma" is a great poem, because now I can add the word miasma to my vocabulary as a synonym for the word stench. I could also relate to the fear of the COVID epidemic. in the poem. The Life of Tu Fu" is thought provoking. There is a reference to the five virtues of a chicken. This is a theme I have never thought of before. "Peahi Light" is a poem that stands for me because I am from Hawaii. Peahi means wave in Hawaiian, and Peahi is also the north shore of Maui. I am inspired to continue to write my own poetry because of this book.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Best American Poetry often suffers from an inequality of good editors. Sometimes, a great poet will ultimately make a poor anthologizer (see Tracy K. Smith’s work in the 2021 volume). Sometimes an experienced editor will fumble when it comes to making choices that aim to please more than just themselves (see Matthew Zapruder, 2022). But sometimes the opposite will happen: either a good poet or a good editor will do what is expected of them. In 2018, Dana Gioia, a great poet, did some standout work. And in 2024, Mary Jo Salter, a good editor and a perfectly fine poet, has done an excellent job.

Salter’s experience editing the Norton Anthology of Poetry , (one of my all-time favorite books), doubtlessly played a role in her skill with this volume. Personal pleasures have no place in a textbook used in classrooms, and fittingly, Salter has weaned out any excesses of individual taste in cobbling these different authors together. Her work is so exemplary that one could imagine a class looking through these poems a couple decades from now, only to see several familiar names and poems–damning evidence that Salter would have done a damn good job.

[Lisa M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, the series has recovered and returned to baseline after last year's horrific edition. Here, we have the predictable--the top journals, familiar names. This was a standard edition to this series and nothing that stood out to me. Salter doesn't have terrible taste but nor does she particularly excite me. That's what this series is--predictable, solid. Some editors do better than others. I dream of a day where dead poets and poets who do not seem to be connected to America at all are featured, but a girl can dream. This volume did what it was supposed to do.

Anything is an improvement over Elaine Equi's edited volume last year. If this had been of the same quality I might have abandoned my tradition of reading it every year. Thanks Salter for providing this predictable, inoffensive volume.

[Riley Spellman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid collection—though maybe Mary Jo Salter is too smart for me. Many times I came across words I didn’t know, references I barely got (mostly to Greek classics), and themes above my pay grade. But, I like poems, so I liked this. (I see this series is still putting the poets’ notes about their poems at the end of the book instead of with the poems, and I still don’t like that.)

Here are some of my favorites in this collection: “Apophasis at the All-night Rite Aid” (Catherine Barnett); “The Monet Conundrum” (Billy Collins); “Passion and Form” (Louise Glück); From “Couplets” (Maggie Millner); “The Hat” (Jane Shore); “The Days” (Adrienne Su); and “The Man with the Yellow Balloon” (Matthew Yeager).

[M Delea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This year’s addition to the series is like most others: a handful of “best,” a few great, a lot of good, some “eh,” and a few inexplicable. I buy every edition and admit to always being a bit disappointed. I realize any Best Of list will be subjective, but it seems as if the journals represented (over represented) are the same ones, as are many of the poets.

I do like how, given the restrictions placed on the guest editors, Mary Jo Salter chose poems that made me think, “Yep—I can totally understand why she chose this one.” The guest editors still make their tastes known, and that is always interesting to see.

I would love to see smaller journals and lesser-known poets represented, but that is not, unfortunately, the point of this series.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s always a pleasure to read these collections every year, even though some poems always seem a little pretentious and don’t hit the right notes for me. Favorites this year:

Kim Addonizio, “Existential Elegy”
Julia Alvarez, “Amenorrhea”
Billy Collins, “The Monet Conundrum”
Brendan Constantine, “Cleptopolitan”
Jessica Greenbaum, “Each Other Moment”
Richie Hofmann, “Lamb”
Jane Shore, “The Hat”

My favorite lines, from “Lamb,” about a child with a one-eyed stuff animal (lamb) that he brought everywhere:

I don’t remember how the eye became unglued

And who knows where it went.

On long train rides,

I remember falling asleep,

Putting my finger in the hole where it used to be.

Once he had to go in an overhead bin.

And he was freezing when I kissed him again.