The Best American Poetry 2025

by David Lehman

Guest edited by Terence Winch—NEA Fellow and editor of the “pick of the week” on the Best American Poetry blog—the 2025 edition marks a poignant farewell to series editor David Lehman, celebrating more than three decades of poetic excellence.

For thirty-eight years, The Best American Poetry series has won widespread acclaim as the nation’s most influential and vital poetry anthology. BAP, which has inspired similar ventures abroad, has garnered plaudits for its ability to capture the zeitgeist of American poetry. This year’s anthology is guest edited by the esteemed poet and songwriter Terence Winch, who brings to the task his work as a musician and poetry editor as well as his many years of experience as head of publications at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Winch, known for his inspired selections on the Best American Poetry blog, curates a vibrant array of compelling voices.

The Best American Poetry 2025 is a landmark edition that not only showcases the finest contemporary American poetry but also honors David Lehman’s achievement as the anthology’s founding editor. “The list of editors is a who’s who of US poetry elites,” writes Oxford professor of poetry A. E. Stallings. “And behind it all, the poet David Lehman, the series editor, has labored quietly and diligently ensuring its continuity and continued relevance.”

Lehman’s vision and dedication have shaped these collections into much-anticipated annual events, sparking lively discussion, controversy on occasion, and always a jubilant affirmation of modern American poetry. This year’s edition stands as a testament to David Lehman’s legacy—and to the enduring power of poetry.

Genres: Poetry, Anthologies

224 pages, Paperback

Published September 2, 2025

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

[Ken]

As is true of any "Best of," you know from the start that the title is a misnomer. It certainly is NOT the "best poetry of 2025" unless, of course, your name is Terence Winch and you happen to be the guest editor. Thus, a better title: "Terence Winch's Best Poems of 2025." No more, no less.

As for me (name not in the title), I found some poems amusing, some pretty good, some pretty lame, and some entirely skippable. You get some usual suspect's, too, who have as much a "Best (and Most Bankable) Name" as they do a "Best Poem": Billy Collins, Denise Duhamel, Robert Hass, Bob Hicok, Danusha Laméris, Sharon Olds, Michael Ondaatje, and Kevin Young being examples.

What does it say about the state of poetry in 2025. Probably the same it said about the state of poetry for the past 50 years: "not" and "much." It is what it is -- a terribly subjective genre bound to cater to or annoy personal poetic prejudices.

Example poem by Fatima Jafar:

In the End of the Beginning of Our Lives

we ate all of our hours together. In shimmering heat
I slept on a mattress, a record scratching like bad teeth
in the back. From blue paper, I cut out the shapes of letters,
cut out stars, full stops, stuck them above my bed to
signal anything. Teenage bones belling against light, silent
as a hunched palm. We knew everything then: sunsets,
sunrises, the charred chalk of winter mornings by the sea.
After class, we stirred pots of green tea and watched movies,
whirling the worst parts of ourselves into false lives. School was
old, its checkered pages and faint ink of bored ideas. Black
shoes devotedly filthy against Monday morning, ready for
the pink work of our daily mythologies. In the forest of years,
we hunted for beauty, dug out of the dirt an older cousin’s
tub of eyeliner, liquid glitter, a tube of graying gloss. Taught
ourselves, in bramble and in thorn, the slow art of decoration.
In mirrors, the easiest part of girlhood stood waiting, as brief
and delible as a new flower, begging, begging again, to be plucked.

Originally appeared in The Kenyon Review's Spring 2024 issue

[Charlotte Caine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Camille Carter, “Thoughts about Inheritance”
Katie Condon, “Book Blurb in the American Style”
Morrison Creech, “A Letter from Rome”
James Allen Hall, “Inheritance at Corresponding Periods of Life, at Corresponding Seasons of the Year, as Limited by Sex”
Bob Hicok, “The call to worship”
Nazifa Islam, “The Wind Whipped Tears into My Eyes”
Martha Silano, “When I Learn Catastrophically”

[katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

maybe one year i will agree that this is actually the best of american poetry…

i did still enjoy reading these and discovering some new folks to look into! i also new going in that terence winch’s preferences do not align with my own.

my favs (and people i will be coming back to):
- the people’s history of 199& - gbenga adesina
- book blurb in the american style - katie condon
- the travelers - abigail dembo
- snapdragon - kevin young

[Ace Boggess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely hate that this is the final volume of this series. It makes me truly sad. At least it goes out well. The poems in this volume are mostly excellent. I’ll read it again many times in the years to come, and I’ll enjoy it as I mourn the loss of a series that has become my friend.

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t believe this series is over. Now nobody will ever write a new poem again!

[Jacob Raynor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing and largely irritating. One or two gems.

[Chelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I savored this one real slowly— dog-eared the pages, read my favorites out loud, dedicated my most beloved bookmark to keep my place. Lots of gems throughout, and overall unfolded a world of possibilities in my brain.

[Stephen Lamb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excerpt from Bob Hicok’s The Call to Worship:

I prefer a theology of silence, the eschatology
of the shrug, a religion of holding my wife’s hand
for now.

[Gabriel Marotto · Rating 3 out of 5]

More good than bad. Very little stood out to me as noteworthy.

[Maristela · Rating 3 out of 5]

lukewarm except:

tell me something good - margaret atwood*
nicholson baker and i - catherine barnett*
zero bothers given - alison pelegrin
i am sick of reading poems about paintings by vermeer
blank verse - cindy tran*
sex talk - lesley wheeler

[Dawna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this year's collection to be disappointing.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been hit and miss with this series “The Best American Poetry” for some time, which should come as no surprise for this type of work. Sometimes one’s taste lines up with the guest editor, sometimes it doesn’t. This year’s, 2025, is somewhere in the middle of my experience. Some years I’m just nowhere near in line with the editor; some years we’re nearly completely in sync. This year I didn’t actively dislike any of the poems, or wonder why there were here, but there weren’t a lot that captivated me.

Part of that is the alignment issue. A lot of these poems were too prose-y for me. Not in the prose-poem vein; I love me a nicely lyrical, condensed prose poem. But in the plain language, sentence structure, and form way. I like to think I mostly understand poems I read, but I mostly consider that a luxury. I come to poetry to be startled by the language, by the metaphors, by the juxtapositions. And that just didn’t happen too often here for me. I didn’t get mesmerized by musicality or stimulated by an unexpected metaphor or captured by an image that etched itself into my brain. Well, technically I did a few times, but not what I’d prefer for an anthology. Which left me frequently with a “that was OK” response. It’s a decent enough collection, but if I were to recommend poetry to someone from this past year, I’d start with some single-poet collections first. That said, as is always the case with anthologies, there is always something that catches your eye or ear or heart. Here are a few of my favorites:

“Nicholson Bake and I” by Catherine Barnett: there’s a lovely charm to this, and a nice wry humor which you think will continue throughout, but the poem bends unexpectedly (there’s that surprise I enjoy) and has a wonderful close

“Fable” by Andrea Cohen: I dare anyone to read this to the end and not smile/chuckle. A plain poem but a wisely cute one

“Thought a Rarity on Paper” by Billy Collins: Your usual deceptively complex Collins poem that uses a conversational tone and style but peppered with unexpected analogies and images that are easily understood and perfect in their context and again, as is typical for me with a Collins’ poem, it closes strongly

“Godzilla Meets the Beast” by Jose Padua, a fun poem full of allusions and humor that cannot obscure the yearning heart at the end

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

An anthology of poetry by multiple authors necessarily reflects the tastes of the editor. The editor this year, Terence Winch, seems to have gravitated to poems that have an obvious grounding in a specific event in the lives of their authors (as opposed to being, for example, a meditation on an abstract concept). That gives many of these poems a heartfelt quality.

Some of my favorites:
Grace Cavalieri, 'White Suit', on the challenges of moving from deep written to in person communication.

Raphael Jenkins, 'Two Men Too Man To Mourn', on the (non-)expression of teenage grief.

Jill McDonough, 'What We Are For', with a sinker in the last two lines.

Alison Pelegrin, 'Zero Bothers Given', a non-political political poem.

Mosab Abu Toha, 'Two Watches', on having a heart in two places at once.

Cindy Tran, 'Blank Verse', on her relationship with her father, among others.

Bernard Welt, 'The Story So Far', which reminded me a bit of Leg over Leg: Volumes One and Two, but at such a tiny fraction of the length of the latter that it wholly works.

I am so sorry to read that this series is ending. I hope, if another editor or publishing house takes over the concept, that they continue to include endpapers that don't just list biographical details about the poems, but that also let the poets say a bit about their poem. Several of these discussions have opened up specific poems for me in a way that made them much richer, and I've been grateful for them.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been reading the BAP anthologies since the 90s, when I was first writing in college and then headed off to an MFA program in poetry. These collections have seen me through losses, joys, setbacks, accomplishments, breakups, a marriage, aging, all of it, and in some years that had no poetry in them, these collections brought me back and reminded me how much I missed it and need it. That this is the last of the BAP to be published is a real loss, and I will miss them.

The 2025 collection holds a lot of surprises, sadnesses, sweetnesses, humor, and invention, as always. Catherine Barnett’s poem “Nicholson Baker and I” and Heather Christle’s “Aubade” (You don’t have to know how to live / It keeps happening either way) reminded me how surprising and invigorating both writers are (and I discovered that they both have new books out). The best title in the collection is “Health-Food Panties,” the poem by national treasure Sharon Olds, which is surprisingly moving and sweet.

There are great poems here by writers I’m unfamiliar with—Lesley Wheeler, “Sex Talk”; Grace Cavalieri, “White Suit”; Emily Schulten, “Nocturnal”; Alison Pelegrín, “Zero Bothers Given” (which begins, “At last I have reached the perfect age, / which is my-tramp-stamp-needs-a-footnote / years old”); Greg McBride, “Know Thyself”; James Allen Hall, “Inheritance at Corresponding Periods of Life . . .”; and Katie Condon, “Book Blurb in the American Style” (“Talk / of _Dream Songs_! Here, friends, nothing is boring! / The most vital poet since the Big Bang invites you / into her bathroom …”). I look forward to seeking out more of their work.

Thanks to David Lehman for decades of dedication to the series.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this anthology over a month ago and have sat with it for some time. I read it shortly before the death of Andrea Gibson, but they were still on my mind reading it. Of course, no "best of" is actually going to be some objective capital B BEST-- these are the poems that most moved the editor and I feel that he did a wonderful job of including an incredibly diverse group of poets and subjects. I realize that poetry is an amorphous concept, different folks expect different things out of their poetry. I prefer poems that play with words, both the phonetic experience of speaking or hearing them and the surprising use of them as metaphor, in unexpected use. This was not a group of poems that loved words. These poems are ideas and vignettes, some metaphors but they were fairly blunt. I didn't find much lyrical language here or lines that made me stop reading to roll the language in my mouth. And that is fine, but if a poem could have been an essay but was written broken into lines without proper grammar, than it probably isn't going to blow me away. That personal preference doesn't take away from the power of the poems that were in here. So many important issues were tackled and I am better for having read it.

Thank you to David Lehman, Scribner, and Netgalley for the ARC in exchanged for my unbiased review.

[Paul Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

IT SEEMS SO strange that this is the last one, but if what I read on the internet is true, it is.

I can understand David Lehman being ready to be done with it, but wouldn't someone else (Kevin Young?) be willing to take it on? I'm using it sells at least reasonably well, since every year it shows up in bookstores that do not carry much other poetry. I mean...what gives?

I did not recognize Terence Winch's name when I saw it on the cover, which was a little surprising--the guest editors tend to be a relatively famous poets. It turned out, though, that I must have seen his name at least a few times, since he has had poems in BAP several times and has been very involved in the BAP Blog.

His selections tend to the mainstream, I suppose we could say--mainly in conversational language, mainly about readily recognizable experiences and observations, mainly the sort of thing that turns up abundantly in the reviews (Kenyon/Southern/Georgia/Massachusetts/Threepenny et alia), mainly by people with established careers.

It would have been nice to go out with a bang, I think, stir in a few things from Zyzzva or Oversound or Conjunctions, but, well, no. It's an enjoyable read, but more of a plunk than a bang.

At least Heather Christle is in it.

[Abby Borchers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really lovely. As it is a collection there are definitelyyyy misses for me but overall I’m so in love with this. I’ve never especially cared for modern poetry, and this was brighter and more considerate than I expected. I will say only a few of them really hit the mark (I find some too on the nose or current or trite) but when they did hit the mark I felt an excitement I haven’t felt since reading Donne. Well that’s unfair actually, none of these even came close, but regardless! I’m excited to be excited about modern poets! One of my favorite things about poetry (aside from all the evoking of feelings and memories and humanness and literary brilliance blah blah duh) is researching all the little clues they give you in the verse. So that was the best part of reading this, no matter how much I liked or disliked each poem. I learned a bunch!

These are my absolute favorites: What About This & A Sunset

And here are some others I enjoyed: Fable, Thought a Rarity on Paper, A Letter from Rome, Amnesia, The call to Worship, The Heart, Too Men Too Man to Mourn, Patronage, Uncle Peyote, Never Argue with the Movies, Snapdragon

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this year's selection of poems interesting and mostly readable. There was decent variety. I'd say this year's selections showed a leaning toward poems that include dialogue. Again, interesting--neither good nor bad. I think it's the first time I've ever read a book of poetry with two mentions of peyote. I don't think I've found any new favorite poets but it was a worthwhile read. Probably the oddest thing about this year's edition is that all the rumors point to this being the last one in the series and yet I don't recall in either of the two introductions (one from the series editor and one from this year's editor) any mention of that or reflection on the history of the series. There was no appendix with info about the series. Nothing.

So now we will have each year a Best American Short Stories, a Best American Essays, a Best American Science Writing, a Best American SciFi and Fantasy and even a Best American Sports Writing but no Best American Poetry. However flawed it may have been, not having it strikes me as problematic.

[Arathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved poetry, mostly for the way it plays with words. Slap in a nice turn of phrase and it's got me excited for days. Many of the poems did that in so many delightful ways. I also love when you see that anger turned into a hint of melancholy of all that is lost. Or an everyday phenomenon explained in the most beautiful, simple way. A little joke, especially if it's an inside joke (I don't need to get it). A discussion of death is always chef's kiss in a poem.
I wasn't a particular fan of the introduction, unfortunately, however, it's always interesting to see how an editor who spends decades reading poetry pick out poems for a collection. Super sad that we won't get to see another edition of The Best American Poetry, because I can finally afford to buy a couple of them. Anyway.
A special shoutout to "Two Watches", by Mosab Abu Toba.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Anastey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley, Scribner, David Lehman, and Terence Winch for sending me this advanced review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a hard book for me to get through. It's fantastic in every way, but most of the poems were a bit on the darker side.

There was so many poems about what's going on in the world. Racism, climate change, politics, anxiety and other things with a similar feeling were just a few that were touched on. The amount of raw emotion, fear, and anxiety were a bit overwhelming at times. The quality of the writing was absolutely top notch, and the subjects were things we all need to read about from time to time. We need to see and acknowledge the darkness, because without it there is no balance.

This is a must read, but please make sure you are in a good headspace before diving in.

[Nicholas Montemarano]

Full disclosure: I have a poem in this volume, so I don't feel comfortable "rating" it. That said: I encourage you to read this because in any poetry anthology, and this one is no exception, you'll find such a range of subject, form, and voice that you'll certainly come away with some favorites and—this is true for me—new poets to pursue.

I'd read several poems in BAP 2025 before, including two of my favorites in the anthology: Catherine Barnett's "Nicholson Baker and I" (so good!) and "Eileen" by Victoria Kornick (first published in the same issue of Copper Nickel as my poem selected). Perhaps my greatest pleasure in writing and reading poetry is making and listening to a poem's music, so it's no surprise that I was especially drawn to poems that caused my ears to perk up. Kornick's "Eileen" is such a poem, playing with how the speaker associates some words with others (litigator with alligator, litigious with religious, fellatio with fallacious). What fun this poem is to read! Same with "Five Postcards" by Hailey Leithauser, in which the speaker addresses a beloved in the most wonderful and inventive ways: "Dear Doll-Face," "My Dearest and Only Flamingo," and "Greetings You Plump & Deciduous, Smirched Girly Girl."

Another standout is Martha Silano's "When I Learned Catastrophically." Silano died May 5 of this year from ALS, and her poem manages to be both witty and heartbreaking—playing, as the poems I've mentioned above, with language, in Silano's case, using anagrams of "amyotrophic lateral sclerosis" (including "catastrophically") to propel the poem sonically. It's an unforgettable poem.

[Robert Yokoyama · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the themes and structure of the poems in this book. My favorite poem is "I am Sick and Tired of Poems and Paintings by Vermeer". This poem introduces me to the art of Vermeer. I am curious to learn what makes his paintings like "The Milkmaid "and "The Girl in The Red Hat". special. I love the poem "To Our Indolent Cancer". I have never heard of the subject cancer expressed in this way. I also enjoy the poet's use of alliteration in this poem. I also love the alliteration in the poem "Two Men Too Man to Mourn". This poem sounds smooth when reading it aloud. In my opinion, it is acceptable for a man to cry at a funeral, but this poem reinforces the belief that men are not supposed to cry. "Two Thousand" is a funny poem. The number is a reference to the number of times a married couple has made love. I hope I can reach this goal with a special woman someday.

"Triple Sonnet for Momi Malone" is a creative piece that challenges me to try to write a triple sonnet with vivid imagery. I have never written a sonnet before. I admire the structure of the poem Apostate Abecedarian". This poem is structured in alphabetical order. It has the first word of each line starting with a letter of the alphabet. I absolutely love the poems in this book.

[Hailey Leithauser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hesitate to review this. especially with a five-star review, since I'm one of the 75 poets included, but honestly, not thinking about my poem, I think it's one of the best of the series. I usually mark three or four poems per edition as personal favorites, but this year I made a note of ten, among them Creech, "Letter from Rome" Delanty "To an Indolent Caner" Equi "Lorca's Guitar" Hall "Inheritance at Corresponding Periods of Life" Majmuder "Patronage" Silano's heartbreaking "When I Learn Catastrophically" and Welt's "The Story so Far."

I'm hoping against hope that even though the series is ending with David Lehman's retirement this year, that someone in the near future will pick up the reins and bring it back to life. Scribner, listen up -- We want more BAPs!

[Monica | readingbythebay · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5.

I am making an effort to read more poetry this year, so I was very excited to receive this collection! Poetry is so incredibly personal, but I will highlight a few of my favorites:

Book Blurb in the American Style by Katie Condon – Condon gave herself the prompt of writing an overly eager blurb about HERSELF, and we all get to enjoy the result!

To Our Indolent Cancer by Greg Delanty – I was immediately struck by the masterful use of language, and the fact that Delanty is using it almost as a weapon against his own cancer.

The Wind Whipped Tears into My Eyes by Nazifa Islam – Islam is has taken a paragraph of text from a Sylvia Plath journal and used only words from that paragraph to create a poem, and a brilliant one at that!

Overall, a solid collection.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent volume in this annual series. But I knew it would be, because the editor this year is Terence Winch, a poet whose work I've long admired. Got it from the library, but now that I've read it, I realize I'm going to have to buy a copy so I can have it handy for re-reading.

The whole collection is really strong, but some highlights for me include:

Katie Condon, "Book Blurb in the American Style" (p.30)
David Trinidad, "Never Argue with the Movies" (pp.132-3)
Bernard Welt, "The Story So Far" (pp. 134-6)

As I said, lots of other stellar poems in there, those were just my absolute favorites. Also really enjoyed the introduction by the editor.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is showing 196 pages. The last poem ended on page 141. The next 41 pages included brief biographies of each of the authors as well as their comments about the inspiration or construction of the poem included in this volume. I think it would have been smarter (more beneficial to the reader especially if a learning poet) to have the information about the author immediately after the poet’s poem included. I did realize that at times, I needed to re-start reading a poem to make sure I knew what was going on. Some interesting selections.
In my mind, poetry reads slower than prose.

[Sonja Hennessy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know other cerebral readers gave the anthology lukewarm reviews but coming from someone who rarely reads or writes poetry and has little experience with poetry I loved it. Maybe it will set the ball rolling for some more poetry reading? Who knows. Generally, I believe I got the gist of most of what was written. Favorites that stood out to me were Margaret Atwood's "Tell me Something Good," Michael Lally's "DC 1972," and "The Ring" by Armen Davoudian. All were very good, though. Highly recommended.

[Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finishing this, I couldn’t help but think of Marianne Moore’s famous line about poetry: “I, too, dislike it.” The collection brims with famous poets, but not their best work. Lengthier poems are favored to fill out this volume. A few have some interesting lines. Many don’t. I won’t be revisiting this one, though I hope to read the next volume in the series. Hate to give this one anything less than three star because, who knows, maybe I just missed the points.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this collection. I am leaving an honest review.

An incredibly poignant, timely, and arresting collection of poetry from so many of our preeminent poets. Through an interesting variety of forms, these poets grapple with current events and universal truths, capturing through beautiful writing a sort of time capsule of America in 2025.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently this is the last of the series. I do hope someone else picks up the series as I have been introduced to many new poets over the years.

However that said it is a collection so bound by the sensibilities of the series guest editor that it is a little hard to say these are the best. But I don’t mind reading other people’s mix tapes.