The Poem Is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them

A delightful and provocative journey across four decades of contemporary American poetry with Stephanie Burt, “the leading poetry critic of her generation” (New York Times), as our surefooted guide.

Contemporary American poetry has plenty to offer. Yet its difficulty—and sheer variety—leaves many readers puzzled or overwhelmed. Beginning with poems written in the early 1980s, critic and poet Stephanie Burt canvasses American poetry from the urgency of Claudia Rankine’s Citizen to the pathos ...