Please Excuse This Poem

February 23, 2015
This wide-ranging collection of poems from "one hundred younger poets firmly launched on their careers" (as poet Carolyn Forché writes in the introduction) offers a loose format that avoids dividing the poems by theme. Instead, poems about complicated love, urban and small-town life, ethnicity, violence, and myriad other topics are presented as a steady stream of powerful language, united by a sense of urgency. Josh Bell's playful "Poem Voted Most Likely" has a trace of Ginsburg ("To drink its hot-dog water like a good fellow/ To laminate the small of your back/ To act as interim liaison to the Psychedelic Mole People/ To huff on tractor fumes"), while Patricia Lockwood's "Rape Joke" takes aim at sexual aggression

December 15, 2014
Lauer and Melnick team up to present a poem apiece from 100 "younger" poets who've published in media ranging from Twitter to the New Yorker. This cross section of contemporary poetry is promoted for grades nine and up, making no concessions to youth. The language and themes of a number of these selections are as adult as they come, probing suicide, mental illness, drug abuse, rape, racism, police brutality, AIDS and other cataclysmic life events, along with tamer reminiscences of home and more common rites of passage like heartbreak, sexual and recreational drug experimentation, and identity formation. The only direct appeal to younger readers is the hind quarter of the volume, which is devoted to brief biographies revealing humanizing yet beauty pageant-like trivia about each poet. Otherwise, the vast majority of these largely first-person free verse poems exhibits a modernist penchant for everyday detail, as in Travis Nichols' "Testimonial"-"I knew, even when I found a piece / of tooth in my Sausage McMuffin, / I would surmount the poverty / and dullness of my youth"-or introspective attention to contemporaneity, as in Patricia Lockwood's edgy "Rape Joke"-"You know the body of time is elastic, can take almost / anything you give it, and heals quickly." Incisive and occasionally brash, the selected works by these poets on the rise showcase the challenges of 21st-century living for readers who are ready for them. (Poetry. 14 & up)

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January 1, 2015

Gr 10 Up-This eclectic mix of poetry from some of the most up-and-coming poets provides a glimpse into contemporary life. Poems include the heart-wrenching and the hilarious, the bitingly sarcastic and the utterly stoic. Some titles may be familiar to fans of modern poetry, while others, such as "Talk," will likely inspire readers to delve deeper. The poems tackle a variety of difficult topics, including sexual abuse, racial profiling, drug use, and family problems, as well as more hopeful subjects-"Tonight You'll Be Able"-and highly relatable ones like "High School Picture Re-Take Day." Appended are short biographies of each of the authors and their answers to insightful questions (the last book of poems they read, their idea of misery). Teens will find the afterword, where the editors explain their reason for creating the collection, a valuable bonus. The poems are not organized in a way that require readers to explore the titles in order, which will appeal to busy teens and reluctant readers. Those with an interest in poetry will devour these relatable selections. A recommended purchase for most nonfiction YA collections.-Ellen Norton, White Oak Library District, Crest Hill, IL

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2015
Grades 9-12 According to editors Lauer and Melnick, Poetry can change perceptions, sympathies, lives. And their sterling collection of 100 poems by 100 new poets is proof positive of it. Presented in a wonderful variety of forms and voices, these works tickle the imagination, affirm the exciting possibilities of words, and explore a well-nigh bewildering variety of subjects ranging from rape to poetry, from AIDS to partying, though many deal with the staples of love and sex. Some are readily accessible, yet others defy easy explication; some are strange, quirky, and offbeat, while others embrace traditional poetic forms; and some don't even look like poetry. But all are resonant and engaging as they, yes, change perceptions, sympathies, and lives. Although it would have been nice if the editors had defined what they mean by new poets, the answer can be inferred from the appended author biographies. This generous collection of their previously published work offers ample evidence that poetry is in good hands to ensure its viability for readers of the next generation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2015
"Most poets begin writing poetry in secret." Poet Carolyn Forche opens her introduction to this anthology of contemporary American poetry with a shout-out to young or burgeoning poets who likely do just that -- an audience that won't be disappointed with the volume's one hundred poems, which meander through topics and styles and, for the most part, unabashedly ignore conventions of form. The best of these poets pack punches with raw handling of timely issues, such as Terrance Hayes with "Talk" ("like a nigger is what my white friend, M, / asked me, the two of us alone and shirtless / in the locker roomM, where ever you are, / I'd just like to say I heard it, but let it go / because I was afraid to lose our friendship / or afraid we'd lose the game -- which we did anyway") and Patricia Lockwood with her uncomfortably humorous "Rape Joke," one of the most powerful of the bunch ("Wine coolers! Who drinks wine coolers? People who get raped, according to the rape joke"). What will appeal to teens (and new adults) the most about this anthology, and what holds it all together, however loosely, is its gritty, unapologetic sensibility, and the feeling that many of these poems were perhaps, at one point, secrets. A lengthy "about the poets" section provides biographical details and answers to such prompts as "your idea of misery." katrina hedeen

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)