Poetry
Boston Review's Top 20 Poems of 2015
Dec 16, 2015
1 Min read time
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Enjoy our most-read poetry of 2015
Photo: takomabibelot
Boston Review takes pride in having published over 150 poems in print and online in 2015—more than any other year in our 40-year history. As ever, we looked for excellence in the poetry we chose to publish this year, although it’s hard to say what that means exactly because our notion of excellence is always changing, and never the same thing twice. Let’s just say each poem we published managed to redefine that notion, at least momentarily.
We continued in 2015 our decades-long practice of presenting emerging writers alongside established figures, although there were far more of the former this year, most of them appearing in our pages (or on our site) for the first time. Likewise, we continued to aim for variety, and happily accommodated verse, prose, and hybrid forms; short lyrics and long sequences; and over a dozen new translations. Our appreciation of variety pertains not only to the formal and aesthetic character of what we publish, however, but also to the perspectives and experiences the poems embody as well as the topics and concerns they speak to.
Take a look at our twenty most-read poems from 2015, presented here in alphabetical order by author’s last name. Revisit a favorite or discover something you missed.... and get ready for an exciting new year’s worth of poetry at Boston Review!
—The Editors
A. H. Jerriod Avant, “Missing Person”
Daniel Borzutzky, “Memories of My Overdevelopment”
Jenny Browne, “When Tony Hoagland Says My Maternal Instincts Are Impressive”
Anne Carson, “Linnaeus Town”
Jay Deshpande, Three Poems
Hilary Vaughn Dobel, “Kids These Days”
Meg Freitag, Poet’s Sampler introduced by Lisa Olstein
Jorie Graham, “Reading to My Father”
Kimberly Grey, “The First Marriage”
Kimiko Hahn, “erasing love”
Juan Felipe Herrera, Five Poems
Maggie Nelson, “What Kind”
Morgan Parker, Three Poems
Alejandra Pizarnik, Three Poems translated by Yvette Siegert
Catherine Pond, “I’m a Young Cowboy and Know I’ve Done Wrong”
Max Ritvo, Poet’s Sampler introduced by Lucie Brock-Broido
Marshall Thomas, Lansing Year
Corey Van Landingham, “Bad Intelligence”
Phillip B. Williams, Poet’s Sampler introduced by Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Wendy Xu, “from Notes for an Opening”
Plus, one poem a day in April for National Poetry Month, and check out Boston Review's top poems of 2014.
December 16, 2015
1 Min read time
