Clear and insightful poetry on our relationship to the given world.

An award-winning gathering of exquisite poems by a celebrated poet.

Yet, as Charles Simic observed in the New York Review of Books, "With all his reliance on chance, Tate has a serious purpose. He's searching for a new way to write a lyric poem.

John Ashbery called Tate the “poet of possibilities,” and this collection records forays into possibilities for American poetry’s future.

New poems by Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and Yale Prize winner.

Masterfully drawing on a variety of voices and characters, James Tate joyfully offers his first book since winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for his "Selected Poems."

With comments from the poets themselves offering insights into their work, The Best American Poetry 1997 delivers the startling and imaginative writing that more and more people have come to expect from this prestigious series.