THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 2020
Guest Editor: PAISLEY REKDAL

 
 
 

Table of Contents

Julia Alvarez, Saving the Children
Appeared in: The Nation
Brandon Amico, Customer Loyalty Program
Appeared in: The Kenyon Review
Rick Barot, from The Galleons
Appeared in: Poetry
Kaveh Bassiri, Invention of I
Appeared in: Copper Nickel
Reginald Dwayne Betts, A Man Drops a Coat on the Sidewalk and Almost Falls into the Arms of Another
Appeared in: Tin House
Ryan Black, Nothing Beats a Fair
Appeared in: The Southern Review
Bruce Bond, Bells
Appeared in: Michigan Quarterly Review
William Brewer, Orange
Appeared in: American Poetry Review
Lucie Brock-Broido, Tender
Appeared in: Parnassus
Victoria Chang, Obit
Appeared in: Mississippi Review
Heather Christle, The Waking Life
Appeared in: Salamander
Ama Codjoe, Becoming a Forest
Appeared in: The Adroit Journal
Meg Day, In Line to Vote on Our Future Climate
Appeared in: Poetry Society of America
Timothy Donnelly, All Through the War
Appeared in: New England Review
Hazem Fahmy, In Which the Devil Asks Me for My Name
Appeared in: Asian American Literary Review
Vievee Francis, The Shore
Appeared in: The Virginia Quarterly Review
Rachel Galvin, Little Death
Appeared in: The Nation
Julian Gewirtz, To X (Written on This Device You Made)
Appeared in: Harvard Review
Regan Good, Birches Are the Gods' Favorite Tree
Appeared in: Copper Nickel
Christine Gosnay, Sex
Appeared in: Poetry
Jorie Graham, It Cannot Be
Appeared in: The New York Review of Books
Samuel Green, On Patmos, Kneeling in the Panagia
Appeared in: Prairie Schooner
B C Griffith, Big Gay Ass Poem
Appeared in: Fence
Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Good Mother
Appeared in: Tin House
Jennifer Grotz, The Conversion of Paul
Appeared in: New England Review
Camille Guthrie, During the Middle Ages
Appeared in: Iowa Review
Janice N. Harrington, Putting the Pieces Together
Appeared in: Poetry Northwest
Tony Hoagland, Sunday at the Mall
Appeared in: New Ohio Review
Kimberly Johnson, Fifteen
Appeared in: The Cincinnati Review
Troy Jollimore, The Garden of Earthly Delights
Appeared in: ZYZZYVA
Ilya Kaminsky, In a Time of Peace
Appeared in: The New Yorker
Douglas Kearney, Sho
Appeared in: Poetry
Donika Kelly, I Never Figured How to Get Free
Appeared in: Poem-a-Day
Christopher Kempf, After,
Appeared in: The Georgia Review
Steven Kleinman, Bear
Appeared in: The Gettysburg Review
Jennifer L. Knox, The Gift
Appeared in: Ploughshares
Yusef Komunyakaa, The Jungle
Appeared in: The New York Review of Books
Corey Van Landingham, Recessional
Appeared in: Pleiades
Nick Lantz, After a Transcript of the Final Voicemails of 9/11 Victims
Appeared in: Copper Nickel
Shara Lessley, On Faith
Appeared in: The Gettysburg Review
Steven Leyva, When I Feel a Whoop Comin' On
Appeared in: jubilat
Cate Lycurgus, Locomotion
Appeared in: The Sewanee Review
Khaled Mattawa, Qassida to the Statue of Sappho in Mytilini
Appeared in: The Kenyon Review
Jennifer Militello, The Punishment of One Is the Love Song of Another
Appeared in: Waxwing
Susan Leslie Moore, Night of the Living
Appeared in: The Commuter
John Murillo, A Refusal to Mourn the Deaths, by Gunfire, of Three Men in Brooklyn
Appeared in: American Poetry Review
Hieu Minh Nguyen, Chasm
Appeared in: The Massachusetts Review
Sharon Olds, Hyacinth Aria
Appeared in: AGNI
Matthew Olzmann, Letter to the Person Who, During the Q&A Session After the Reading, Asked for Career Advice
Appeared in: Waxwing
Paul Otremba, Climate is Something Different
Appeared in: The Kenyon Review
Cecily Parks, The Seeds
Appeared in: New England Review
Carl Phillips, Something to Believe In
Appeared in: Poem-a-Day
Stanley Plumly, At Night
Appeared in: Poem-a-Day
Jana Prikryl, Fox
Appeared in: American Poetry Review
Kevin Prufer, Archaeology
Appeared in: Cherry Tree
Ariana Reines, A Partial History
Appeared in: Poetry
Max Ritvo, The Poorly Built House
Appeared in: Parnassus
Clare Rossini, The Keeper Will Enter the Cage
Appeared in: Parnassus
Robyn Schiff, American Cockroach
Appeared in: The New Yorker
Brandon Som, Shainadas
Appeared in: Poetry Northwest
Jon William Stout, Dysphonia
Appeared in: New England Review
Arthur Sze, Sprang
Appeared in: Mānoa
James Tate, The Prayer
Appeared in: Conduit
Brian Teare, Sitting Isohydric Meditation
Appeared in: New England Review
Craig Morgan Teicher, I Am a Father Now
Appeared in: Conduit
Lynne Thompson, She talk like this 'cause me Mum born elsewhere, say
Appeared in: Pleiades
Matthew Thorburn, The Stag
Appeared in: Cave Wall
Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad, Isfahan, 2010
Appeared in: Michigan Quarterly Review
Rosanna Warren, Samson, 1674
Appeared in: The Paris Review
Robert Wrigley, Machinery
Appeared in: The Georgia Review
Ryo Yamaguchi, Reading Not Reading
Appeared in: Poetry Northwest
John Yao, The President's Telegram
Appeared in: The Massachusetts Review
Emily Yong, Opioid, Alcohol, Despair
Appeared in: The Kenyon Review
Monica Youn, Study of Two Figures (Pasiphaë/Sado)
Appeared in: Poetry
Matthew Zapruder, My Life
Appeared in: The New Yorker

 

 
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