“Hey, what are you going to do?
Itâs an anthology. The problem with every anthology is that itâs not going to please everybody all the time, which means it kind of ultimately pleases nobody, right?
Garrison Keillor, for all his lake business, does a decent job of selecting poetry. Really. This book and its precursor, Good Poems, are both filled with some really excellent material. The biggest downfall, for me personally, is the inclusion of super-traditional stuff, Bible verses, for example. And I’m not a fan of reading portions of something. I know Leaves of Grass is impossibly long, but…I don’t know. I’m not an excerpt guy. But hey, it’s all about balance, and if the world has to read, say, Robert Frost yet again in order to be tricked into reading Denver Butson, then so be it.
I figure the most useful thing would be to list some of the poems I liked best. This isn’t a list of what I consider every good poem in the book, because a very large number are very good. They’re just poems that held my attention for whatever reason. I tend to enjoy poems with concrete, real details and story as opposed to language poetry. Itâs all pretty accessible stuff, stuff you could probably read without being left with that all-too-familiar poetry feeling of âWell what the hell does that mean?â If thatâs you, consider taking a look at some of these.
âFor My Daughter in Reply to a Questionâ âDavid Ignatow (13)
âStarting the Subaru at Five Belowâ by Stewart Kestenbaum (15)
âThe State of the Economyâ by Louis Jenkins (27)
âCalling him back from layoffâ by Bob Hicok (43)
âWorking in the Rainâ by Robert Morgan (45)
âWhy I Take Good Care of My Macintoshâ by Gary Snyder (79)
âMother, In Love at Sixtyâ by Susanna Styve (166)
âMy Husband Discovers Poetryâ by Diane Lockward (182)
âSoda Crackersâ by Raymond Carver (232)
âDriving to Town Late to Mail a Letterâ by Robert Bly (253)
âMy Brotherâ by Denver Butson (255)”