5 Poems You Need to Know About: Best American Poetry 2014 in Review

credit: arthistory.about.com
featured on the cover of The Best American Poetry 2014

Like a good little poetry nerd, I dutifully drive myself to my nearest Barnes & Noble when I realize the next annual issue of Best American Poetry has been released. Since 2011, I've made sure to track down a copy of this incredible anthology, and I swear, somewhere in my mess of a bookshelf, I have copies from previous years, too...because I am a book hoarder. And I am proud.

The Best American Poetry series has been around since 1988, and I like to think of it as the ultimate mix tape of poetic genius, a myriad of new forms to try and new words to add to your ever-growing list of favorites. And, of course, this anthology is also a fantastic way to get exposed to new poets that you may not have explored before, or to find new works from old favorites. Imagine my surprise (or lack thereof, because she's brilliant) to see Anne Carson, an old favorite of mine, pop up in this year's edition.

So, without further ado, here are my top picks from The Best American Poetry 2014, that you absolutely, positively, must take the time to track down, right this very minute. (Or, of course, you could buy the book and read these five poems plus seventy more that I simply don't have the space to write about.)

5. "An Etiquette for Eyes" by Cate Marvin

Call me biased, but as a girl with brown eyes, I loved this poem, especially because it "advocates for the plain," Marvin writes in her contributor's note. "An Etiquette for Eyes" comes from a brown-eyed perspective, the speaker tactfully taking the poem's blue-eyed stud down peg by peg, which sounds a bit contrived, right? Another relationship poem? Wrong! Marvin turns seemingly-ordinary brown eyes into intriguing, proud, come-hither eyes that refuse to be hidden by glasses or cast aside by a former lover's blue beauts. In addition to giving me endless ammo to fall in love with own brown eyes, Marvin also constructs her poem in an interesting form: 4 small, few word stanzas, followed by 4 lengthier stanzas, and back to the 4 small stanzas again. I'll be damned if this isn't the most riveting poem about eyes you'll ever read.

4. "To Survive the Revolution" by Traci Brimhall

An intimate relationship with the devil and an "instinct for red" (7) breathes life into this gripping poem. In her contributor's note, Brimhall explains that her poem centers around the 'what ifs' of survival during the 1960's coup d' etat in Brazil, and these moral questions are made plain as the poem's progatonist "pay[s] with a name" (19) each night that the devil comes to her bed, "all wrath and blessing and wearing / my husband's beard" (2-4). A stunning portrayal of life in times of crisis, Brimhall's brilliance is clear throughout her poem.

3. "vivisection (you're going to break my heart)" by Marty McConnell

I'm crazy about poems with anatomical imagery (check back tomorrow for a fun science-inspired prompt!), and this poem is one of the best I've seen in a long time. Right from the get-go we're thrust into the speaker's exposed and vulnerable state (note that the poem's not titled "dissecction," no, it's "vivisection," which is experimentation on live animals) as they jump into love, offering every organ they posses to this reckless pursuit. Beautifully torn open and ultimately used until there's nothing left, the speaker voices McConnell's own experiences of intense love and her initial reaction to dissection, writing in her contributor's note: "The whole thing is so delicate and gruesome, and simultaneously so absolutely ordinary."

2. "Bird, Singing" by Lucie Brock-Broido

Arguably the most poignant piece in this year's collection, I had to put Brock-Broido's "Bird, Singing" on my list of top picks. I love its quiet imagery, a scene that's slowly beaten away by the surf. I love the artful dichotomy between the dark, ocean-worn colors of the first half of the poem with the illuminated "million small golden bees set loose / In April's onion snow" towards the poem's end (19-20). But I think most of all, I love the final line of the poem: "Quietly, would you sing this back to me, out loud?" Appropriately, this poem is actually an elegy for a friend, Brock-Broido notes at the back of the book. Truthfully, it's a simple poem, but there's an immense beauty behind the gentle facade.

1. "The Field Museum" by Roger Reeves

Found at the end of this year's Best American Poetry, it didn't take much for this poem to pull into first place ahead of all its predecessors. The tone and imagery of this poem are just impeccable. Both a subtle yet brilliant walk through the museum's exhibits and an exercise in the "inability to reckon and explain death not only to a child but also to oneself" (contributor's note), this poem invokes an otherworldly sense of the things we have studied and experienced in our own lives...and our own trips to the museum.


Have you read this year's issue of The Best American Poetry? Do you favorites jive with ours? Are our tastes in poetry completely different? Let's talk about it; leave a comment below!