The Best American Poetry

The 1999 edition of "The Best American Poetry" will exceed the expectations of the many thousands of readers who eagerly await the annual arrival of this "truly memorable anthology." (Chicago Tribune). Guest editor Robert Bly, an award-winning poet and translator -- famous, too, for his leadership role in the men's movement and his bestselling book, "Iron John" -- has made selections that present American poetry in all its dazzling originality, richness, and variety. The year's poems are striking in their vibrancy; they all display that essential energy that Bly calls "heat," whether the heat of friendship, the heat of form, or the heat that results when a poet "brings the soul up close to the thing" he or she is contemplating. With comments from the poets illuminating their work, "The Best American Poetry 1999" reflects the most exciting and memorable poetry being written at the end of the millennium.