Bettering American Poetry 2015

By Amy King

2017

First Published

4.69

Average Rating

206

Number of Pages

6H17M

Audio Length

We feel that to “better” American poetry is to jam dominant systems of taste to the best of our abilities, and to resignify the very phrase “American poetry” with the languages that it so desperately lacks. We intend to center voices of resistance, subjectivities that emerge from the radical margins, artists whose Americanness transcends nationalism and other borders, perspectives historically denied institutional backing—in short, poets and poetries that are urgent and necessary but do not get along nicely with Power. "Soaring and raw, these poems 'better' American Poetry by battering down racial pieties of our white neoliberal nation. This anthology is an explosive Cri de Coeur of these times." - Cathy Park Hong "Resistance and action have always been key elements of progress, and I'm so encouraged that Bettering American Poetry exists and super humbled to be a part of it. We need this poetry, these voices, this perspective—and the poems are just really freaking good!" - Tommy Pico "Bettering American Poetry is verse of the most urgent kind. In this moment of rising fear and resentment these poets write with a deep regard for all peoples. This is the kind of work that will take us through the next 4 years and the next 100." - Nate Marshall

Avg Rating

4.69

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

75%

4 STARS

19%

3 STARS

2 STARS

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

Amy King

Author · 10 books

Amy King is the recipient of the 2015 Women’s National Book Association (WNBA) Award. Her latest collection, The Missing Museum, is a 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize winner. She’s co-editor of the anthology Big Energy Poets: Ecopoetry Thinks Climate Change and the anthology series, Bettering American Poetry. King is a professor of creative writing at SUNY Nassau Community College. King has also taught poetry workshops at such places as the San Francisco State University Poetry Center and the Summer Writing Program @ Naropa University. Her poems have been nominated for numerous Pushcart Prizes, she was a Lambda Literary finalist, and she was the recipient of a MacArthur Scholarship for Poetry. Amy founded and curated, from 2006, the Brooklyn-based reading series, The Stain of Poetry, until 2010. Readings, reviews and more @ www.AmyKing.org .