larryhammer | “We see … / That art is sacrifice and self-control, / And who loves beauty must be stern of soul.”

Everyman’s Library (now an imprint of Knopf) has long been noted for small, often relatively inexpensive hardbound editions of classic works. This tradition continues with a contemporary series of Pocket Poetry anthologies in the same trim (though with less flexible covers), which I’ve been collecting over the years—they make for good portable/travel reading. Here’s some short takes on twenty I’ve read and retained over a couple decades:

Arabic Poems, ed. Marlé Hammond - A bilingual collection spanning the earliest tradition to contemporary poets. I can’t evaluate how good a representation it is, as it’s the only such anthology I’ve read, but I liked the range. B

Buzz Words: Poems About Insects, ed. Harold Schechter & Kimiko Hahn - My current reading—decent so far, but not outstanding, especially compared to Tennent’s The Poetry Bug. Likely a B

Chinese Erotic Poems, trans. Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping - I’m not a fan of Barnstone as a translator—all too often his results are blah, and for poems I’ve translated myself he comes off even blander. Okay for an introduction to the subject, I guess? I’m looking for a replacement though. C

The Echoing Green: Poems of Fields, Meadows, and Grasses, ed. Cecily Parker - The subject is not as oddly specific as it first sounds, as there’s a striking wealth of poetry on the topic that I’ve never otherwise seen called out before. B

Erotic Poems, ed. Peter Washington - Companion to Love Poems. Okay but doesn’t set the world on fire, which given the theme is a bit of an issue. B

The Four Seasons, ed. J. D. McClatchy - Compares surprisingly well to the seasonal books of the Kokinshu (which I was translating when I read this). B

Little Poems, ed. Michael Hennessy - Being poetry of up to 13 lines, i.e. jobs shorter than a sonnet. More entertaining than I expected, and good for random dipping into at odd moments. B

Love Poems, ed. Peter Washington - Companion to Erotic Poems. One of the better collections on the theme I’ve read—and for its size, the best. A

Lullabies and Poems for Children, ed. Diana Secker Larson - Read fine at the time but feels pallid in memory. There are several better collections specifically created for children. C

Marriage Poems, ed. John Hollander - I have literally no memory of the contents or my responses. D

Measure for Measure: An Anthology of Poetic Meters, ed. Annie Finch & Alexandra Oliver - This is a good sampling of a good range of meters, but far too many entries are extracts for it to be a reading pleasure. C (unless as a poet you’re looking for a sampler, in which case B)

Monster Verse: Poems Human and Inhuman, ed. Tony Barnstone & Michelle Mitchell-Foust - A companion to Poems Dead and Undead. Nicely rounded selection of different kinds of monsters. B

On Wings of Song: Poems About Birds, ed. J. D. McClatchy - The sort of theme anthology I especially dig. Excellent range and taste. A

Poems Bewitched and Haunted, ed. John Hollander - Apparently a companion to Dead and Undead & Monster Verse, this one covering magic and ghosts and things slantwise to those. Surprisingly good. A

Poems Dead and Undead, ed. Tony Barnstone & Michelle Mitchel-Foust - A companion to Monster Verse, only rather more rambly. Has some good passages, but overall not the best. C

Poems of the American West, ed. Robert Mezey - This initially disappointed me by including only 20th century poems, but within the domain of looking backward on an earlier era and exploring the contemporary, not bad at all. B

Poems of the Sea, ed. J. D. McClatchy - I have Opinions about the theme, having edited a collection on it. This holds up. B

Three Hundred Tang Poems, trans. Peter Harris - My favored complete translation of this anthology, the one I most often consult for relevant notes and second opinions as I work on my own. A+

Villanelles, ed. Annie Finch & Marie-Elizabeth Mali - Great selection of the tradition, modern experiments, and contemporary takes. The best single-form anthology I’ve read, honestly. (That an ex-gf is in it has no bearing on my opinion, of course.) A

Zen Poems, ed. Peter Harris - Translations from Chinese and Japanese of poems in the Chan/Zen tradition. I often return to this in reflective moments. A

Waiting in the wings after the bug bits are Fairy Poems, Border Lines: Poems of Migration, and Poems of London, all of which I’m looking forward to. As well as selling off Marriage Poems (unless anyone wants it?)

---L.

Subject quote from An American to France, Alice Duer Miller.