American Journal - by Tracy K Smith (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

A landmark anthology envisioned by Tracy K. Smith, 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States

American Journal presents fifty contemporary poems that explore and celebrate our country and our lives. 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States and Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy K. Smith has gathered a remarkable chorus of voices that ring up and down the registers of American poetry. In the elegant arrangement of this anthology, we hear stories from rural communities and urban centers, laments of loss in war and in grief, experiences of immigrants, outcries at injustices, and poems that honor elders, evoke history, and praise our efforts to see and understand one another. Taking its title from a poem by Robert Hayden, the first African American appointed as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, American Journal investigates our time with curiosity, wonder, and compassion.

Among the fifty poets included are: Jericho Brown, Natalie Diaz, Matthew Dickman, Mark Doty, Ross Gay, Aracelis Girmay, Joy Harjo, Terrance Hayes, Cathy Park Hong, Marie Howe, Major Jackson, Ilya Kaminsky, Robin Coste Lewis, Ada Límon, Layli Long Soldier, Erika L. Sánchez, Solmaz Sharif, Danez Smith, Susan Stewart, Mary Szybist, Natasha Trethewey, Brian Turner, Charles Wright, and Kevin Young.

Review Quotes

"Tracy K. Smith . . . pulled together 50 poems by contemporary writers to create a literary sampling of the American experience. There are lyrics you'll cheer with, elegies you'll weep with, and stories you won't forget. Get one for yourself and one for a friend."--Wirecutter

"American Journal serves as a strong overview of the poetry of our current moment. . . . It is refreshing to read a book that unifies our diverse perspectives."--ZYZZYVA

"These fifty poems bear witness to what it means to come from and belong to this remarkably vast and varied nation. In these lines, I am reminded that no matter who we are, we have something urgent and life-changing to offer one another. American Journal is an invitation to listen and to feel."--Tracy K. Smith

About the Author