The Best American Poetry 2015 (The Best American Poetry series) Kindle Edition

Overall, I would give this collection a B- average (technically an 80.8% avg.) as far as the quality of the poems contained. I know that attempting to quantify poetic effect/value is a ridiculous gesture, but I am simply a ridiculous person. Of course, this is purely based off of my own tastes and will not necessarily reflect your average satisfaction rate.I started a mission last month to read the last few entries in the Best American Poetry series so that I can begin to get a better sense of A) what my taste in poetry is, and B) my own poetic voice. I am finding so far that I am all over the map and impressionable in both areas (I am only an amateur poet at this point, if that).Confidently, I can say that I definitely enjoyed reading Edward Hirsch's selections in BAP 2016 more consistently than I did Alexie's choices. That being said, I was happy to see that Alexie was not afraid to select poets that were not exclusively old white dudes who teach in universities. Alexie's selection brings some neglected voices into the fold. Women, people of color, and younger poets make up a significantly larger portion of BAP 2015 than BAP 2016. Unfortunately, I am assuming that previous entries in the series that I have yet to read have editors who churn out selections that are more in line with Hirsch's than Alexie's.Alexie's selections also has more rhyming/metrical madness poems than BAP 2016 has. I was glad to see that rhyming poetry (which I, while not exclusively, still like to write) still has a place and can be validated in the modern poetic landscape. It was also nice to see that a decent handful of poets who under 40 were included in this collection. I am young and I can take comfort in this if I ever choose to start submitting my poems to magazines.The following are my favorites from this collection:Masterpieces (8)"House Is an Enigma" by Emma Bolden"A Sharply Worded Silence" by Louise Glück"Looney Tunes" by R.S. Gywnn"Is Spot in Heaven?" by David Kirby"Party Games" by Dora Malech"Relevant Details" by Catherine Pierce"The Main Event" by Donald Platt"Ajar" by A.E. StallingsMasterful (8)"It Was the Animals" by Natalie Diaz"The Garden in August" by Madelyn Garner"Thumbs" by Meredith Hasemann"Antebellum House Party" by Terrence Hayes"Eating Walnuts" by Jennifer Keith"Watching the Sea Go" by Dana Levin"Anxieties" by Donna Masini"Dear Black Barbie" by Candace G. WileyMasters Candidates (9)“Cedars of Lebanon” by Derrick Austin“WFM: Allergic to Pine-Sol, Am I the Only One” by Melissa Barrett“The Joins” by Chana Bloch"DOCTORS LIE, MAY HIDE MISTAKES" by Rafael Campo"Homeland" by Jericho Brown"Body & Kentucky Bourbon" by Saeed Jones"Ode to the Common Housefly" by Andrew Kozma"Candying Mint" by Alan Michael Parker"So Early in the Morning" by Charles Simic

I ordered this book through Amazon, and it was like new! We had to order it for class, but it had a wide range of contemporary authors. It helped us in class to learn about different techniques because the poems were so diverse. If you want to know what new poets are writing, I suggest that you order this book!

This is one of the worst books of poetry that I ever read. No wonder poetry is so unpopular these days. I went into this with an open mind wondering what was the state of poetry these days. I was extremely disappointed.

Everyone should read great poetry. No, seriously! It's not just for snobs and introverts, and not all great poets are long dead. Give it a try, and start with Jenny Keith's poem in this book.

Fast shipping, as advertised.

Great book. Love the series.

Not as strong as other volumes, but still good.

Everyone who likes to write a poem or two should buy poetry books.