The Best American Poetry 2015

by David Lehman

  Emily Kendal Frey, “In Memory of My Parents Who Are Not Dead Yet” from Powder Keg. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  James Galvin, “On the Sadness of Wedding Dresses” from The Iowa Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Madelyn Garner, “The Garden in August” from PMS: poemmemoirstory. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Amy Gerstler, “Rhinencephalon” from The American Poetry Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Louise Glück, “A Sharply Worded Silence” from Faithful and Virtuous Night. © 2014 by Louise Glück. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Also appeared in The Threepenny Review.

  R. S. Gwynn, “Looney Tunes” from Dogwatch. © 2014 by R. S. Gwynn. Reprinted by permission of Measure Press. Also appeared in Able Muse.

  Meredith Hasemann, “Thumbs” from The Southampton Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Terrance Hayes, “Antebellum House Party” from The New Yorker. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Rebecca Hazelton, “My Husband” from Court Green. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Jane Hirshfield, “A Common Cold” from The Threepenny Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Bethany Schultz Hurst, “Crisis on Infinite Earths, Issues 1–12” from Miss Lost Nation. © 2014 by Bethany Schultz Hurst. Reprinted by permission of Anhinga Press. Also appeared in New Ohio Review.

  Saeed Jones, “Body & Kentucky Bourbon” from Prelude to Bruise. © 2014 by Saeed Jones. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Coffee House Press. Also appeared on Poetry Daily.

  Joan Naviyuk Kane, “Exhibits from the Dark Museum” from Alaska Quarterly Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Laura Kasischke, “For the Young Woman I Saw Hit by a Car While Riding Her Bike” from Post Road. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Douglas Kearney, “In the End, They Were Born on TV” from Patter. © 2014 by Douglas Kearney. Reprinted by permission of Red Hen Press. Also appeared in The Iowa Review.

  Jennifer Keith, “Eating Walnuts” from Unsplendid. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  David Kirby, “Is Spot in Heaven?” from The Cincinnati Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Andrew Kozma, “Ode to the Common Housefly” from Subtropics. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Hailey Leithauser, “The Pickpocket Song” from 32 Poems. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Dana Levin, “Watching the Sea Go” from the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Patricia Lockwood, “See a Furious Waterfall Without Water” from A Public Space. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Dora Malech, “Party Games” from The Hopkins Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Donna Masini, “Anxieties” from the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Airea D. Matthews, “If My Late Grandmother Were Gertrude Stein” from Kinfolks Quarterly. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Jamaal May, “There Are Birds Here” from Poetry. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Laura McCullough, “There Were Only Dandelions” from Rigger Death & Hoist Another. © 2013 by Laura McCullough. Reprinted by permission of Black Lawrence Press. Also appeared on Verse Daily.

  Rajiv Mohabir, “Dove” from Prairie Schooner. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Aimee Nezhukumatathil, “Upon Hearing the News You Buried Our Dog” from the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series.

  D. Nurkse, “Plutonium” from The Manhattan Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Tanya Olson, “54 Prince” from The Awl. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Ron Padgett, “Survivor Guilt” from Alone and Not Alone. © 2015 by Ron Padgett. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Coffee House Press. Also appeared in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series.

  Alan Michael Parker, “Candying Mint” from The Carolina Quarterly. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Catherine Pierce, “Relevant Details” from Pleiades. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Donald Platt, “The Main Event” from Southwest Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Claudia Rankine, from Citizen. © 2014 by Claudia Rankine. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Graywolf Press. Also appeared in Granta.

  Raphael Rubinstein, “Poem Begun on a Train” from Harper’s. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Natalie Scenters-Zapico, “Endnotes on Ciudad Juárez” from West Branch. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Evie Shockley, “legend” from Fence. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Charles Simic, “So Early in the Morning” from The Paris Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Sandra Simonds, “Similitude at Versailles” from Colorado Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Ed Skoog, “The Macarena” from Fruita Pulp. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  A. E. Stallings, “Ajar” from The Atlantic Monthly. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Susan Terris, “Memo to the Former Child Prodigy” from Denver Quarterly. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Michael Tyrell, “Delicatessen” from The Iowa Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Wendy Videlock, “How You Might Approach a Foal:” from The New Criterion. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Sidney Wade, “The Chickasaw Trees” from Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Cody Walker, “Trades I Would Make” from Poetry Northwest. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  LaWanda Walters, “Goodness in Mississippi” from The Georgia Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Afaa Michael Weaver, “City of Eternal Spring” from City of Eternal Spring. © 2014 by Afaa Michael Weaver. Reprinted by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press. Also appeared in The Rumpus.

  Candace G. Wiley, “Dear Black Barbie” from Prairie Schooner. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Terence Winch, “Subject to Change” from Beltway Poetry Quarterly. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Jane Wong, “Thaw” from Birdfeast. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  Monica Youn, “March of the Hanged Men” from The Paris Review. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

  SHERMAN ALEXIE, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction, the PEN/Malamud Award for short fiction, a PEN/Hemingway Award for best first fiction, and the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, is a poet, short story writer, novelist, and performer. His twenty-four books include What I’ve Stolen, What I’ve Earned, poetry; Blasphemy: New and Selected Stories; and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a novel. Alexie has been an urban Indian since 1994 and lives in Seattle with his family.

  DAVID LEHMAN, series editor of The Best American Poetry, is also the editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry. His books of poetry include New and Selected Poems, When a Woman Loves a Man, and The Daily Mirror. He teaches in The New School graduate writing program and lives in New York City and Ithaca, New York.

  Visit the Best American Poetry website at

  www.bestamericanpoetry.com

  MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT

  SimonandSchuster.com

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Sherman-Alexie

  authors.simonandschuster.com/David-Lehman

  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

  Loui
se 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

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

  Copyright © 2015 by David Lehman

  Foreword copyright © 2015 by David Lehman

  Introduction copyright © 2015 by Sherman Alexie

  Jacket Art © The Estate of Joe Brainard

  Jacket Design by Jaya Miceli

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  First Scribner hardcover edition September 2015

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  Library of Congress Control Number: 88644281

  ISBN 978-1-4767-0819-5

  ISBN 978-1-4767-0820-1 (pbk.)

  ISBN 978-1-4767-0821-8 (ebook)