The Best American Poetry 2021 Read online

  Shane McCrae, “The Hastily Assembled Angel on Care and Vitality” from The Yale Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Lupe Mendez, “There Is Only You” from Green Mountains Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Francine Merasty, “Since Time Immemorial” from Iskotew Iskwew: Poetry of a Northern Rez Girl. © 2021 by Francine Merasty. Reprinted by permission of Bookland Press. Also appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review.

  Yesenia Montilla, “a brief meditation on breath” from Poem-a-Day. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Kamilah Aisha Moon, “Irony” from The American Poetry Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Stanley Moss, “A Smiling Understanding” from Act V, Scene I. © 2020 by Stanley Moss. Reprinted by permission of The Permissions Company, Inc. on behalf of Seven Stories Press. Also appeared in The Nation.

  dg nanouk okpik, “When White Hawks Come” from Poem-a-Day. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Cecily Parks, “December” from The New Yorker. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Patrick Phillips, “Elegy with Table Saw & Cobwebs” from New England Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Roger Reeves, “For Black Children at the End of the World—and the Beginning” from Poem-a-Day. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Ed Roberson, “For Air” from Poetry. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Margaret Ross, “Blood” from The Yale Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Angbeen Saleem, “black and brown people on shark tank” from Pigeon Pages. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Nicole Sealey, “Pages 5–8” (An excerpt from The Ferguson Report: An Erasure) from The Paris Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Evie Shockley, “women’s voting rights at one hundred (but who’s counting?)” from Poets.org and American Poets. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Darius Simpson, “What Is There to Do in Akron, Ohio?” from New Ohio Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Patricia Smith, “The Stuff of Astounding: A Golden Shovel for Juneteenth” from The New York Times. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Monica Sok, “Ode to the Boy Who Jumped Me” from Poem-a-Day. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Adrienne Su, “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” from Peach State. © 2021 by Adrienne Su. Reprinted by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press. Also appeared in Bennington Review.

  Arthur Sze, “Acequia del Llano” from The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems. © 2021 by Arthur Sze. Reprinted by permission of The Permissions Company, Inc. on behalf of Copper Canyon Press. Also appeared in The Kenyon Review.

  Paul Tran, “Copernicus” from The New Yorker. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Phuong T. Vuong, “The Beginning of the Beginning” from The American Poetry Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  John Sibley Williams, “The Dead Just Need to Be Seen. Not Forgiven.” From Southern Indiana Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  L. Ash Williams, “Red Wine Spills” from Poem-a-Day. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Shelley Wong, “How to Live in Southern California” from The Kenyon Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  John Yau, “Overnight” from Hambone. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Monica Youn, “Caution” (from “Deracinations: Seven Sonigrams”) from Ploughshares. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Kevin Young, “Dog Tags” from Stones. © 2021 by Kevin Young. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf. Also appeared in Ploughshares.

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  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  DAVID LEHMAN, the series editor of The Best American Poetry, is also the editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry. His eleven books of poetry include Playlist, Poems in the Manner Of, New and Selected Poems, When a Woman Loves a Man, and The Daily Mirror. The most recent of his many nonfiction books is One Hundred Autobiographies: A Memoir. He lives in New York City and Ithaca, New York.

  TRACY K. SMITH, guest editor, served as United States Poet Laureate from 2017 to 2019. Educated at Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford, she is the author of five acclaimed collections of poetry, including, most recently, Wade in the Water and the forthcoming Such Color: New and Selected Poems. Her memoir, Ordinary Light, was a finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2015. Life on Mars received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2012. She teaches at Harvard.

  SimonandSchuster.com

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/David-Lehman

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Tracy-K-Smith

  @simonbooks

  OTHER VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES

  John Ashbery, editor, The Best American Poetry 1988

  Donald Hall, editor, The Best American Poetry 1989

  Jorie Graham, editor, The Best American Poetry 1990

  Mark Strand, editor, The Best American Poetry 1991

  Charles Simic, editor, The Best American Poetry 1992

  Louise Glück, editor, The Best American Poetry 1993

  A. R. Ammons, editor, The Best American Poetry 1994

  Richard Howard, editor, The Best American Poetry 1995

  Adrienne Rich, editor, The Best American Poetry 1996

  James Tate, editor, The Best American Poetry 1997

  Harold Bloom, editor, The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988–1997

  John Hollander, editor, The Best American Poetry 1998

  Robert Bly, editor, The Best American Poetry 1999

  Rita Dove, editor, The Best American Poetry 2000

  Robert Hass, editor, The Best American Poetry 2001

  Robert Creeley, editor, The Best American Poetry 2002

  Yusef Komunyakaa, editor, The Best American Poetry 2003

  Lyn Hejinian, editor, The Best American Poetry 2004

  Paul Muldoon, editor, The Best American Poetry 2005

  Billy Collins, editor, The Best American Poetry 2006

  Heather McHugh, editor, The Best American Poetry 2007

  Charles Wright, editor, The Best American Poetry 2008

  David Wagoner, editor, The Best American Poetry 2009

  Amy Gerstler, editor, The Best American Poetry 2010

  Kevin Young, editor, The Best American Poetry 2011

  Mark Doty, editor, The Best American Poetry 2012

  Robert Pinsky, editor, The Best of the Best American Poetry: 25th Anniversary Edition

  Denise Duhamel, editor, The Best American Poetry 2013

  Terrance Hayes, editor, The Best American Poetry 2014

  Sherman Alexie, editor, The Best American Poetry 2015

  Edward Hirsch, editor, The Best American Poetry 2016

  Natasha Trethewey, editor, The Best American Poetry 2017

  Dana Gioia, editor, The Best American Poetry 2018

  Major Jackson, editor, The Best American Poetry 2019

  Paisley Rekdal, editor, The Best American Poetry 2020

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  Scribner Poetry

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to h
istorical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by David Lehman

  Foreword copyright © 2021 by David Lehman

  Introduction copyright © 2021 by Tracy K. Smith

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  First Scribner edition September 2021

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  Jacket design by Jaya Miceli

  Jacket Artwork: Honor Titus, Brownstone Waltz, 2020. © Honor Titus. Courtesy Timothy Taylor, New York.

  Library of Congress Control Number: 88644281

  ISBN 978-1-9821-0662-1

  ISBN 978-1-9821-0663-8 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-9821-0664-5 (ebook)