Best New Poets 2005

As is the case with every anthology that features only one poem per author, this one is uneven, but there are, in my opinion, as many good poems as there are poor ones. More importantly, the anthology includes a wide variety of styles and voices, which makes it stand out from many of the Best American Poetry anthologies, in which the guest editor often seems biased towards the particular style that most resembles his or her own. There is also the fact that this anthology features "new" poets, or poets who are yet to publish a book, and, in a way, this assures that the politics of poetry stay out of the way. In other words: why are Billy Collins, Jorie Graham and John Ashbery in virtually every volume of "Best American Poetry"? Is it because their particular poems merit it, or because of their name and place in contemporary American poetry? No similar questions can be raised about this anthology. Some of the highlights include Allen Braden, Cecily Parks, Kevin A. Gonzalez, Dan Albergotti and Cynthia Marie Hoffman.