Horn Book Review
"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 (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
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) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
