David Lehman, the series editor of The Best American Poetry, edited The Oxford Book of American Poetry. His books of poetry include The Morning Line, When a Woman Loves a Man, and The Daily Mirror. He has written such nonfiction books as Signs of the Times: Deconstruction and the Fall of Paul de Man. He lives in New York City and Ithaca, New York.

CONTENTS

Foreword by David Lehman

Introduction by John Hollander

Jonathan Aaron, "Mr. Moto's Confession"

Agha Shahid Ali, "The Floating Post Office"

Dick Allen, "The Cove"

A. R. Ammons, "Now Then"

Daniel Anderson, "A Possum's Tale"

James Applewhite, "Botanical Garden: The Coastal Plains"

Craig Arnold, "Hot"

Sarah Arvio, from Visits from the Seventh

John Ashbery, "Wakefulness"

Frank Bidart, "The Second Hour of the Night"

Robert Bly, "A Week of Poems at Bennington"

George Bradley, "In an Old Garden"

John Bricuth, from Just Let Me Say This About That (IV)

Anne Carson, "TV Men: Antigone (Scripts 1 and 2)"

Turner Cassity, "Symbol of the Faith"

Henri Cole, "Self-Portrait as Four Styles of Pompeian Wall Painting"

Billy Collins, "Lines Composed Over Three Thousand Miles from Tintern Abbey"

Alfred Corn, "Jaffa"

James Cummins, "Echo"

Tom Disch, "What Else Is There"

Denise Duhamel, "The Difference Between Pepsi and Pope"

Lynn Emanuel, "Like God,"

Irving Feldman, "Movietime"

Emily Fragos, "Apollo's Kiss"

Debora Greger, "Mass in B Minor"

Allen Grossman, "Weird River"

Thom Gunn, "To Cupid"

Marilyn Hacker, "Again, The River"

Rachel Hadas, "Pomegranate Variations"

Donald Hall, "Letter with No Address"

Joseph Harrison, "The Cretonnes of Penelope"

Anthony Hecht, "Rara Avis in Terris"

Daryl Hine, "The World Is Everything That Is the Case"

Edward Hirsch, "The Lectures on Love"

Richard Howard, "The Job Interview"

Andrew Hudgins, "The Hanging Gardens"

Mark Jarman, "The Word 'Answer'"

Donald Justice, "Stanzas on a Hidden Theme"

Brigit Pegeen Kelly, "The Orchard"

Karl Kirchwey, "Roman Hours"

Carolyn Kizer, "Second Time Around"

Kenneth Koch, "Ballade"

John Koethe, "The Secret Amplitude"

Rika Lesser, "About Her"

Phillis Levin, "Ontological"

Philip Levine, "Drum"

Rebecca McClanahan, "Making Love"

J. D. McClatchy, "Descartes's Dream"

Heather McHugh, "Past All Understanding"

Sandra McPherson, "Chalk-Circle Compass"

W. S. Merwin, "The Chinese Mountain Fox"

Robert Mezey, "Joe Simpson [ 1919-1996]"

A. F. Moritz, "Artisan and Clerk"

Thylias Moss, "The Right Empowerment of Light"

William Mullen, "Enchanted Rock"

Eric Ormsby, "Flamingos"

Jacqueline Qsherow, "Views of La Leggenda della Vera Croce"

Robert Pinsky, "Ode to Meaning"

ardReynolds Price, "The Closing, the Ecstasy"

Wyatt Prunty, "March"

Stephen Sandy, "Four Corners, Vermont"

Alan Shapiro, "The Coat"

Robert B. Shaw, "A Geode"

Charles Simic, "Ambiguity's Wedding"

Mark Strand, "The View"

James Tate, "Dream On"

Sidney Wade, "A Calm November. Sunday in the Fields."

Derek Walcott, "Signs"

Rosanna Warren, "'Departure'"

Rachel Wetzsteon, from Home and Away

Susan Wheeler, "Shanked on the Red Bed"

Richard Wilbur, "For C."

C. K. Williams, "The Bed"

Greg Williamson, "The Dark Days"

Charles Wright, "Returned to the Yaak Cabin, I Overhear an Old Greek Song"

Contributors' Notes and Comments

Magazines Where the Poems Were First Published

Acknowledgments