The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry

by Michael Simms (Editor), Giuliana Certo (Editor), Christine Stroud (Editor)

A comprehensive selection of work by 110 important American poets including Kim Addonizio, Jimmy Santiago Baca, George Bilgere, Chana Bloch, Lucille Clifton, Billy Collins, Toi Derricotte, Stephen Dobyns, Rita Dove, Denise Duhamel, Stephen Dunn, Terrance Hayes, Bob Hicok, Jane Hirshfield, Tony Hoagland, Marie Howe, Joy Katz, Jane Kenyon, Li-Young Lee, Philip Levine, Larry Levis, William Matthews, Jeffery McDaniel, Naomi Shihab Nye, Ed Ochester, Linda Pastan, and Natasha Tretheway.

Genres: Poetry

590 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 15, 2011

About the author

Michael Simms is a poet, writer, editor, publisher, and teacher. Four full-length collections of his poetry, seven novels, and two widely adopted poetry textbooks have been published or are under contract with publishers. He has also been the lead editor of over 100 published books, including the bestselling Autumn House Anthology of Poetry, now in its third edition. Simms has taught at a number of universities, including Chatham University’s MFA program from 2005-2013. He was awarded a Certificate of Recognition from the Pennsylvania legislature in 2011 for his service to arts and letters.

Reviews

[Katie J Schwartz · Rating 3 out of 5]

You lose stars for not having an index. What kind of literature anthology doesn't have an index?

[Marc Kohlman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The poetry in this book is amazing! I read this for my Creative Writing: Poetry class and was awed and inspired by a lot of the poems in this to compose some of my own work. Rita Dove's poems were the first I read. "Daystar" I liked being about the mundane life of a working mother and is a short story that does not go into too much detail. The speaker is the "star" of her kids lives and the poem relies on sight and Dove implies there is more than what is seen. Words liked "slumped," "lugged," and "palace" carry a lot of strength. "Palace" definitely suggests the speaker is building a fortress and world away from that of her hectic life. "Aircraft" is both an external and internal poem where the speaker wants to be at war yet is surrounded by women due to being unfit for combat. The speaker does not see female co-workers as people. It is interesting that the stanzas get shorter as the work gets done. War and gender in this poem are artistically melded together and the speaker's sex is undermined by being around women. "Hattie McDaniel" is very impressive about the first African-American actress to win an Academy Award who rose from "common" origins all on her own. The sassiness in this was for everyone who was not able to make it to showbiz. This really is a Feminist poem for McDaniel is proud of who she was and did not care what her haters thought of her. She was no "Motherly" character to anyone. The bodily references were interesting including how the "we" were the fans, who forgot scandal due to their love for McDaniel as a "Mother" figure. "Roast Possum" I thought was interesting having the Grandfather's stories in italics and that the grandson, Malcolm, asks questions of his family history which his grandfather does not want to divulge to him. The embellishments made for Malcolm made the stories more exciting. W.S. Merwin's poem "To Paula in Late Spring" I liked for it is about remembering a special moment with a beloved person and has no fear of death. This reads as a sonnet with no punctuation. The repetition of 'will' has a progressive look to it. "The Pinnacle" has an air of nature to it with a journey ending with a mystery. While it has a strange syntax, "The Pinnacle" is not named, only mentioned three times. The secret is the place itself and has a sense of urgency. There is no definite direction or punctuation. Each line tells a story on the way to the pinnacle. The last line changes the poem and begs the question will this ever happen again? Also, is Ms. Giles a ghost giving the speaker comfort? "No Little Soul" is sort of a song almost using one rhyme. It is very broad and compact. Ted Kooser's "Selecting a Reader" has no specification of what poems she would read with a clear reflection of time. There is a lot of enjambment with pleasurable symbols as the speaker gives her ideas of a true reader. "Laundry" has good solid imagery with a lot of sound and internal rhymes plus dualistic quality. Amazing how the shirts tell the story. "Old Soldiers' Home" punctuation flows well and has a sense of ending with compact description leaving one with the sense of wonder. "Geronimo's Mirror" taps into a lot of sensory and visual elements but is not heavily jammed with a lot of personification. It contains a sad element recounting Geronimo's story and overlay of time. Mark Jarman's "The Wind" is filled with specific details and imagery on buildings, streets and weather. It paints a picture with the breeze. It comes alive from the speaker's observations. The poem ties natural and religious elements together. The speaker changes at the end of the poem. Starts out angry at life before the painting tells him to be calm and let it be. You can feel the reflection. The speaker becomes one with the trees. He writes about faith very heavily. Much of a traditionalist Jarman is. With "Butterflies Under Permission" Jarman introduces a woman relating to insects and in turn the insects relate to fruit etc. The woman only wants to be appreciated for herself by the speaker, who seems to be easily distracted. The format of "In The Tube" looks like waves and is a skinny narrative poem with distinctive imagery. It talks about a serious situation nonchalantly with plot points in each line. The last line with the missing indentation may suggest suicide perhaps. Terrance Hayes "A Plate of Bones" really is about the divide of racism which the speaker emphasizes with the domineering racist uncle and the daughter who is the back talker and cannot be with the speaker. He pushes back what he really wants to say. "The Same City" has intimate details and starting over parts sets up for concrete facts. There is construction through layers. The speaker realizes this may be too complex and provides more descriptions. "All the Way Live" is all about life lived to the edge and subversion and irritating the liberals. The offensive tone of the content is to piss the reader off. Ilya Kaminsky's "In Praise of Laughter" retells stories with beautiful sounds with the words. There is no mention to laughter and is intense rather than light-hearted imagery. The personification used adds another layer of action to the poem about the violence of the Soviet Union. I like how it uses detailed metaphorical imagery and has a fairytale lyrical texture which shifts in the repetition. Laughter in this poem stands for hope and happiness in Aunt Rose, street musicians, and dancing. "Aunt Rose" pairs reality with fairytale and life's simple pleasures with the hardships. Circular pattern of events occur again with the repetition and in each stanza a physical body part is mentioned. Aunt Rosa gets older in the last stanza and evenings are evidence of her changing her life and habits. "My Mother's Tango" has movement which is a heavy theme especially for the speaker who moved and learned many languages which is conflicting. The poem asks what is happiness to Ilya when he is interested in his mother's. The mother loses her memory and/or mind by the end. She feels like a stranger and as herself at the same time. It bodes the question if happiness is unattainable. Li-Yang Lee's "Words for Worry" I was impressed with the shift in the number of lines yet still has a structure to it. The poem is highly organized with no regularity in the construction of stanzas. The vision of fatherhood is the total picture of parenting. Worry becomes a person just as the son becomes different aspects and roles. The father technically can be a son and will remain the same in the mind of his own child as one thing. Almost an incomplete circle in the cycle of fatherhood. The father could be orphaned because his parents died or that he did not have a real relationship with them. Lee's "Praise Them" is a lyrical poem. The birds reveal the sky's beauty by flying through it. Secretly they were there yet leave behind their beauty and add to what the speaker sees. Humans are the ones altering the space. The only question is what type of bird does the speaker talk about that is "our violent number" and can it be humans? "The Hammock" is a series of questions and then an answer, going back and forth like a hammock. The repetition of images are very concrete, abstract, and far away. There is a generational connection between the characters in the poem. Naomi Shihab Nye's "Sure" has concrete elements which form daily events. Stanza 3 explodes open with concrete and abstract imagery. The repetition works and says so much about the speakers and characters in the poem and is really simple. The first line is very emotional and abstract. "Never mind" gives impression memory left yet is still there. "Don't-be-so-sure" do not be too confident about everything. The grandmother's memory is definitely there. "Famous" is an object changing poem with useful repetition. The little things are famous to something, the poem turns the concept on its head. Each thing focuses on something else. The speaker wants to be famous for making people happy. It is a fabulous use of metaphor and stretches with making comparisons. "Lunch in Nablus City Park" gives contrast between beauty, happiness, war and negativity. It is a delightful poem still and questions to make one think about the issues in it and allows readers to connect with it. The poem goes back and forth between daily life and war. It brings out everything that happens and people should carry on with life. I liked Natasha Trethewey's "The Incident" for its concrete images, repetition plus structure,and similes. The Ku Klux Klan are painted as good in contrast to evil. There is a peaceful tone to a poem on atrocity. "Miscegenation" is about hustle. First two lines use the same word. Each starts a new approach to the topic as the speaker goes from sin in Cincinnati to 'Mis' in Mississippi, breaking 2 rules. Stephen Dunn's "Don't Do That" has abstract and concrete emotions with nostalgia throughout plus personification. The line breaks also work well. There is a sense of identity in it as the speaker gets along with the dogs more than the people at the party. The beginning, middle, and end are all distinct. This is a heavily jammed prose poem that flips back and forth on the dogs and the people who are the "they". The shift to the present is significant too. "Empathy" makes reference to animals and has an anonymous aspect to it. The speaker is a Hippopotamus and his ex-girlfriend is a cat which was very interesting to me. There are a lot of military stories in this poem and compassion for all life forms and no ones story is stomped upon. This poem is also about couples breaking up, news of death, and divorce as well. The Mermaid tattoo is a futureless imagination. It gets very dark by the end and older by tone of language and very humble and miniscule. It avoids being despondent because "it's anybody's story." Much of the poem is not about the speaker at all. I recommend this book for aspiring poets and English teachers both. I learned so many different styles and forms of poetry from the ones I read and discussed with my class from this book.

[Charles M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have read and reread . It is a wonderful introduction to a broad array of poets. One of its strengths is that it includes several poems for most of the poets. Some glaring omissions but a way to discover some extraordinary poems and unfamiliar poets

[Timons Esaias · Rating 4 out of 5]

I previously read the Sue Ellen Thompson edition of this series, and I understand that there is at least a third edition (not currently in my possession), and I will note that aesthetically Thompson's version was more to my taste than Simms's. I tend to favor poems that exhibit clarity over obscurity, and more of these poems resist actual understanding than the previous volume.

I do realize that one of the uses of poetry is to say aloud and in print that which cannot be said, and screening its truth with unteaseable simile, impenetrable metaphor, and untraceable reference. But if the reader is left with nothing much else instead, well, I find that unsatisfying. For me, Mystery is not All. A significant percentage of poems here fell into that category.

That said, over 50 of the poems rated a special note in the TOC for me, and I'll be happily rereading them when I need inspiration.

There are far too many poems and poets to list in this review, but I thank this volume for reminding me of Norah Pollard, especially of "Narragansett Dark" and its stanza, especially,

And he left the bed and went out
to where they stood in the grasses.
He stood before them and
their breath fell on him like cloud
and he saw their great eyes pool the moon.
And the one waiting for him,
the one with the empty saddle,
was a bay.

I thank it for Dean Young's line "everything has a purpose / from which it must be freed,".

And for Ochester's "For Ganesha, Hindu God of Good Fortune". For the Barbara Hambys and the quite different Marie Howes.

And on and yet on. Quite a collection.

[David Rullo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really is a fabulous collection of poetry featuring some of the very best poets. Terran, Tyner, Ochester, Levine, Hayes, all of these should be household names and this anthology helps make that happen.