From Publishers Weekly
By now readers are able to peruse these volumes with the sort of familiar affection given to the beloved family nuisance. This year, series editor David Lehman's temperature-taking preface reminds us of Ruth Lilly's colossal $100 million bequest to Poetry Magazine, and notes that you can now collect poet cards and purchase poet swimsuit calendars. The contributors' notes at the back of the book eat up more available pages than usual as they recount what particular works of art or jazz tracks made the authors write their "best" poems, while a modest voice indicates that this marks their 8th or 10th appearance in the series. Guest editor Komunyakaa (Neon Vernacular, 1994) argues that the avant-garde, which he terms the "exploratory" movement, exists as "a poetry that borders on cultivated solecism and begs theorists to decipher it" and that it is "death in language"; by contrast, the poetry he has chosen "has content." Finally, the poems themselves appear; here are fresh gems from Richard Howard, W. S. Merwin, Galway Kinnell (a spectacular threnody on the fall of New York's World Trade Center towers), Carolyn Kizer, Rita Dove, Richard Wilbur, James Tate, Louise Gleck, Philip Levine, C.K. Williams, and the three most recent Pulitzer Prize winners, Stephen Dunn, Carl Dennis and Paul Muldoon. Two other poets stand out-Amy Gerstler contributes an amusing Gilda Radner-like piece about misreading a mailer that wants to send her "Beethoven's Greatest Symphonies," while Ruth Stone (b. 1915) gives the proceedings a suitably youthful air with her speculative "Lines": "Voice, perhaps you are the universe;/ the hum of spiders." Nowhere near as lively as last year's Robert Creeley-edited compilation, the 16th edition of this annual has pleasures of its own. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
How fitting it is that Komunyakaa, a bold and brilliant poet from the African American South and a decorated Vietnam War veteran, selected the year "best" poems for the seventeenth volume in this exciting series, given the unusually conspicuous role poetry played in the news, including the poets' protest against the war in Iraq, as observed by series editor Lehman in his trenchant foreword. And there is, indeed, a palpable urgency and sharp awareness of the precariousness of life in the potent and diverse poems Komunyakaa has so astutely gathered. Brigit Pegeen Kelly's "The Dragon," a stunning description of a startling sight--two swarms of bees fly a snake over a garden--is followed by Galway Kinnell's intense remembrance of 9/11. Richard Howard's martini-dry wit plays in enlivening counterpoint to the down-home heat of Rodney Jones, and Wendell Berry and Michael Goldman unflinchingly assess the state of our species. By the close of this superbly edgy collection, the reader is torn between wonder and despair over humankind's capacity for beauty and horror. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Library Journal One of the best things going in modern american literature.

Book Description
The Best American Poetry is not just a poetry collection; it's an eagerly anticipated event. Like its predecessors, The Best American Poetry 2003 is a definitive "who's who" and "what's happening" in American verse, spotlighting the most talented poets at work today in the United States. "Poetry encourages us to have dialogue through the observed, the felt, and the imaginary," writes editor Yusef Komunyakaa in his thought-provoking introduction. As a black child of the American South and a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, Komunyakaa brings his singular vision to this outstanding volume. Included here is a diverse mix of senior masters (Richard Wilbur, the late Kenneth Koch), crowd-pleasing bards (Billy Collins, Rita Dove), rising stars (Catherine Bowman, Tony Hoagland) and the fresh voices of an emerging generation (Natasha Trethewey, Daniel Nester). With comments from the poets elucidating their work and series editor David Lehman's eloquent foreword assessing the state of the art, The Best American Poetry 2003 is a must-have for readers of contemporary poetry.

About the Author
Yusef Komunyakaa received the Bronze Star for his service as a war correspondent in Vietnam. He won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry for his book Neon Vernacular in 1994. His other books include Pleasure Dome, Thieves of Paradise, Talking Back to the Gods, and Blue Notes and he has also written jazz lyrics. In 1999 he was elected a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. He teaches at Princeton University.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Best American Poetry is not just a poetry collection; it's an eagerly anticipated event. Like its predecessors, The Best American Poetry 2003 is a definitive "who's who" and "what's happening" in American verse, spotlighting the most talented poets at work today in the United States.

"Poetry encourages us to have dialogue through the observed, the felt, and the imaginary," writes editor Yusef Komunyakaa in his thought-provoking introduction. As a black child of the American South and a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, Komunyakaa brings his singular vision to this outstanding volume. Included here is a diverse mix of senior masters (Richard Wilbur, the late Kenneth Koch), crowd-pleasing bards (Billy Collins, Rita Dove), rising stars (Catherine Bowman, Tony Hoagland) and the fresh voices of an emerging generation (Natasha Trethewey, Daniel Nester).

With comments from the poets elucidating their work and series editor David Lehman's eloquent foreword assessing the state of the art, The Best American Poetry 2003 is a must-have for readers of contemporary poetry.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly