From Booklist
Editors Lauer and Kelley have compiled a fresh and much-needed collection of love poems written by 100 outstanding American poets born after 1960. An ancient form of communication, love poems challenge contemporary poets to bring new forms and perspectives to the tradition to keep it alive and vital. Not only that, as Charles Simic writes in his enthusiastic introduction, "Writing about love in a country in which most news nowadays is about violence, death, and destruction is cause for joy." And joyful voices abound. From Peter Gizz's "It Was Raining in Delft" to Travis Nichols' "Wild Is the Windy," the vernacular of these well-chosen love poems will appeal to sensibilities punk and conservative. Also present are Edmund Berrigan ("The History of the Human Body"), Lee Ann Drow ("After Sappho"), and Jeffery McDaniel ("Hunting for Cherubs"), whose surrealist wit really stands out. A marvelous anthology that answers the question, How do the young answer the age-old question of love? Mark Eleveld
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Review
"Isn't It Romantic: 100 Love Poems by Younger American Poets is an astonishing revelation." --Charles Simic, from the Introduction

Book Description

Written by 100 American poets, Isn't It Romantic offers an engaging look at how contemporary poets respond afresh to the well-trammeled territory of the love poem. Award-winning poets from across the country lend their voices to this important document of contemporary poetry. The book also features a bonus full-length audio CD of love songs by independent recording artists.

Anthology Contributors include: Karen Volkman, Joe Wenderoth, Eleni Sikelianos, Juliana Spahr, Brenda Shaughnessy, Matthew Rohrer, Claudia Rankine, D.A. Powell, Hoa Nguyen, Noelle Kocot, Lisa Jarnot, Kevin Young, Brian Henry, Christine Hume, Matthea Harvey, Arielle Greenberg, Thalia Field, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Timothy Donnelly, Stephen Burt, Joshua Beckman, and more.

Contributors to the audio CD include: David Berman, Richard Buckner, Vic Chesnutt, Nina Nastasias, Doug Martsch, Mark Mulcahy, Megan Reilly, Jenny Toomey and more.

Editor Brett Fletcher Lauer is the poetry in motion director at the Poetry Society of America and poetry editor of CROWD Magazine. He is the co-editor of Poetry In Motion from Coast to Coast (W. W. Norton, 2002) and his poems have appeared in BOMB, Boston Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn.

Editor Aimee Kelley is the editor and publisher of CROWD Magazine. She received her BA in English from UC Berkeley and her MFA from the New School for Social Research. She has worked at non-profit organizations such as the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses and the Academy of American Poets. Her poems have appeared in Denver Quarterly, Spinning Jenny, 811 Books and elsewhere.

Charles Simic (Introduction) is the author of many books of poems, including The World Doesn't End, winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize. He teaches writing at the University of New Hampshire.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Written by 100 American poets, Isn't It Romantic offers an engaging look at how contemporary poets respond afresh to the well-trammeled territory of the love poem. Award-winning poets from across the country lend their voices to this important document of contemporary poetry. The book also features a bonus full-length audio CD of love songs by independent recording artists.

Anthology Contributors include: Karen Volkman, Joe Wenderoth, Eleni Sikelianos, Juliana Spahr, Brenda Shaughnessy, Matthew Rohrer, Claudia Rankine, D.A. Powell, Hoa Nguyen, Noelle Kocot, Lisa Jarnot, Kevin Young, Brian Henry, Christine Hume, Matthea Harvey, Arielle Greenberg, Thalia Field, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Timothy Donnelly, Stephen Burt, Joshua Beckman, and more.

Contributors to the audio CD include: David Berman, Richard Buckner, Vic Chesnutt, Nina Nastasias, Doug Martsch, Mark Mulcahy, Megan Reilly, Jenny Toomey and more.

Editor Brett Fletcher Lauer is the poetry in motion director at the Poetry Society of America and poetry editor of CROWD Magazine. He is the co-editor of Poetry In Motion from Coast to Coast (W. W. Norton, 2002) and his poems have appeared in BOMB, Boston Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn.

Editor Aimee Kelley is the editor and publisher of CROWD Magazine. She received her BA in English from UC Berkeley and her MFA from the New School for Social Research. She has worked at non-profit organizations such as the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses and the Academy of American Poets. Her poems have appeared in Denver Quarterly, Spinning Jenny, 811 Books andelsewhere.