The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry-2nd ed.

editor
J.D. McClatchy

the spiel
It is rare that I recommend an anthology of any kind, let alone a poetry anthology.  In my experience they’re often not worth recommending.  It is a genre that is particularly hard to do well.  That said, The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry-2nd Edition does it, and does it, and keeps on doing it.  It is awesome—in the literal sense.

Whether you’ve hardly read any poetry at all or you consider yourself an expert in the field, this book is worth pouring over.  Its table of contents boasts the names Louise Gluck, Charles Simic, Adrienne Rich, Jorie Graham, Mark Doty, Denise Levertov, Howard Nemerov, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Pinksy, and Li-Young Lee, to name just a few (out of the seventy-five different poets anthologized here).  McClatchy, the editor, gives you enough of each poet’s work to at least begin to get a feel for their style.
I am a serious reader and a committed bibliophile and I can very honestly say that this book forever changed the way I think about language.  It expanded my worldview exponentially, and I refer back to it all the time.  It also introduced me to poets whose work I have come to adore.

I give this anthology to everyone I can, from the poetry-phobic to the villanelle composing, and I’ve never had a dissatisfied reader.

yo!
Make sure to get the second edition, the first is much less inclusive, and generally way less worth it.