From Publishers Weekly
Former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky (Jersey Rain) founded the Favorite Poem Project during his tenure, resulting in an anthology (Americans' Favorite Poems) and other disseminations. Again with Project director Maggie Dietz, Pinsky follows up with another collection of poems selected by readers across the country. Poems to Read: A New Favorite Poem Project Anthology features works by a wide selection of well-known, mostly American and European writers from throughout the ages: Henry King, Rabindranath Tagore, Gwendolyn Brooks, J.W. von Goethe, Issa, Jorie Graham, Robert Herrick, Dionisio Mart¡nez and Frank O'Hara are just a few of them. Arranged in quote-based categories like "I Made My Song a Coat" and "In Durance Soundly Caged," most pieces are preceded by brief comments from Poem Project participants engineers, doctors, consultants, police officers, human resource managers, high school students and others who share what the poems mean to them. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The Favorite Poem Project was founded by Pinsky in 1997 during his tenure as poet laureate. Some 18,000 respondents sent letters or e-mails about their favorite poems, which resulted in the anthology America's Favorite Poems and several videos. This new anthology includes poems selected by Favorite Poem Project participants and their personal comments. But it also includes poems chosen by the editors, along with their brief remarks. Although mainly populated by famous English and American poets (Chaucer, Shakespeare, Coleridge, Housman, Dickinson, Frost, Ginsberg, Ashbery), the book has many surprises, like Abraham Lincoln and the Nicaraguan poet Rub n Dario. This landmark publication belongs on the shelves of every library in America. Highly recommended for the breadth of its coverage and the depth of its commentaries. Daniel L. Guillory, Millikin Univ., Decatur, IL Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Americans' Favorite Poems (1999), the first anthology to evolve from former poet laureate Robert Pinsky's inspired and fruitful Favorite Poem Project, is currently in its eighth printing. Galvanized by its success, Pinksy and his coeditor, Maggie Dietz, have created a second anthology, a graceful, sometimes jubilant, sometimes lyrical, sometimes brooding, but always welcoming and stirring collection. The poems are arranged in loosely defined thematic categories covering various stages and preoccupations of life, from childhood to love and death, and different paths to reconciling loss, finding faith, and loving nature and life itself. Many works do carry headnotes from readers explaining the reasons for their selections, but the focus is on the poetry rather than on their reasons for loving their favorites. The editors also participate, often presenting their favorites without comment. The range is exhilarating--encompassing works in translation, and reaching as far back as Horace. Pinksy and Dietz's widely cast net also gathers poems by Lucille Clifton, C. P. Cavafy, Louise Gluck, Theodore Roethke, Pablo Neruda, Robert Frost, and Denise Levertov. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Buffalo News, Jeff Simon., 16 June 2002
The magic of [this anthology] is that they [is]...revelatory to both poetry beginners and longtime poetry readers.

Los Angeles Times, Carol Muske-Dukes, 28 April 2002
A fresh take on the ever new pleasure of reading poems.... illuminating, energetic and very American.

Harvard Book Review, Teresa Elsey, Summer 2002
A good start for people who have read very little poetry.

Book Description
A unique anthology by the editors of the bestseller Americans' Favorite Poems. Poems to Read is a welcoming avenue into poetry for readers new to poetry, including high school and college students. It is also meant to be a fresh, valuable collection for readers already devoted to the art. This anthology concentrates on the actual pleasures of reading poems: hearing the poem in your voice, bringing it to other people, musing about it, taking excitement or comfort from it, wandering with it or—as in the Keats letter quoted in the Introduction—having it as a starting post. Many of these 200 poems are accompanied by comments from readers of various ages, regions, and backgrounds who participated in the Favorite Poem Project. Included are poems by John Donne, Walt Whitman, William Butler Yeats, Langston Hughes, Elizabeth Bishop, Gwendolyn Brooks, Seamus Heaney, Allen Ginsberg, and Louise Glück, to name a few. The editors offer their own comments on some of the poems, which are arranged in thematic chapters.

About the Author
Robert Pinsky founded the Favorite Poem Project during his tenure as Poet Laureate of the United States. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Maggie Dietz is the Project's director. She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

FROM OUR EDITORS

When Robert Pinsky was named poet laureate in 1997, he made us all his corecipients. Tapping the poetic gifts and preferences of his fellow countrymen, he created Americans' Favorite Poems, a delightfully diverse anthology of accessible verse. In Poems to Read, Pinsky and coeditor Maggie Dietz offer a second batch of poetry to sharpen the mind and lift the spirits. Once again, the selections are eclectic, sometimes unexpected, and refreshing. Contributors range from Robert Herrick and Henry King to Jorie Graham and Frank O'Hara.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Poems to Read is a welcoming avenue into poetry for readers new to poetry; for readers already devoted to the art it offers a fascinating, fresh approach.

This anthology emphasizes the actual pleasures of reading poems: hearing the poem in your voice, bringing it to other people, musing about it, taking excitement or comfort from it, wandering with it, or -- as in the Keats letter quoted in the Introduction -- having it as a starting post.

Many of the 200 poems are accompanied by comments from participants in the Favorite Poem Project -- Americans of diverse regions, ages, and backgrounds. The editors contribute their own comments on some of the poems, which are arranged in chapters based on themes like youth, darkness, passion, and art.

FROM THE CRITICS

Carol Muske-Dukes

A fresh take on the ever new pleasure of reading poems.... illuminating, energetic and very American.

Jeff Simon

The magic of [this anthology] is that they [is]...revelatory to both poetry beginners and longtime poetry readers.

Publishers Weekly

Former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky (Jersey Rain) founded the Favorite Poem Project during his tenure, resulting in an anthology (Americans' Favorite Poems) and other disseminations. Again with Project director Maggie Dietz, Pinsky follows up with another collection of poems selected by readers across the country. Poems to Read: A New Favorite Poem Project Anthology features works by a wide selection of well-known, mostly American and European writers from throughout the ages: Henry King, Rabindranath Tagore, Gwendolyn Brooks, J.W. von Goethe, Issa, Jorie Graham, Robert Herrick, Dionisio Mart!nez and Frank O'Hara are just a few of them. Arranged in quote-based categories like "I Made My Song a Coat" and "In Durance Soundly Caged," most pieces are preceded by brief comments from Poem Project participants engineers, doctors, consultants, police officers, human resource managers, high school students and others who share what the poems mean to them. (June) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal