Announcing the Spring 2004 Book Sense 76 Poetry Top Ten

Here is the Spring 2004 Book Sense 76 Poetry Top Ten, based on the nominations of independent booksellers from all regions of the country. The March White Box will contain the Poetry Top Ten pads, and you can download a PDF of the list, by clicking here.

It's a fantastic list, offering something for the passionate, casual, or neophyte reader of poetry. And the list's publication has been timed to coincide with April's designation as National Poetry Month 2004. This annual event was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, and it brings together publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools, and poets around the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and nonprofit organizations participate through in-store events, special book displays, workshops, and other activities.

For more on National Poetry Month, click here.

And many thanks to all the booksellers who helped put this list together for their passionate and articulate nominations!

1. WHY I WAKE EARLY: New Poems, by Mary Oliver (Beacon, $22, 0807068764) "Mary Oliver has a way of bringing moments from the natural world into our lives -- a recognition of the place nature plays in our psyches and our physical bodies. With language to delight the senses, her latest volume of poems is a pure gift of words to savor." --Gayle Shanks, Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, AZ

2. GOD WENT TO BEAUTY SCHOOL, by Cynthia Rylant (Harper Tempest, $14.99, 0060094338) "God does a lot of things in God Went to Beauty School, like buying a sofa, getting arrested, and, yes, going to beauty school. At first it seems irreverent, but, ultimately, this surprising little book creates a sense of God that many will appreciate. Read it and see if you're not drawn into the divine!" --Stanley Hadsell, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, NY

3. GOOD POEMS, edited by Garrison Keillor (Penguin, $15 paper, 0142003441) "This is a title that everyone keeps asking for. Keillor's selections from the many poems that he has read on Minnesota Public Radio's The Writer's Almanac seem to touch something in everyone." --Lee Musgjerd, Lee's Book Emporium, Glasgow, MT

4. SHATTERED SONNETS, LOVE CARDS, AND OTHER OFF AND BACK HANDED IMPORTUNITIES, by Olena Kalytiak Davis (Tin House/Bloomsbury, $19.95, 1582343527) "To enter Davis' poetic world is to throw yourself into an exquisite storm. As if deemed inadequate for her purposes, language is rent and then rebuilt, to offer voice to a heightened experience of being alive, in all its exuberance and agony." --Herman Fong, Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA

5. BUFFALO DANCE: The Journey of York, by Frank X. Walker (University Press of Kentucky, $15 paper, 0813190886) "These poems bring vividly to life the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition as told through the thoughts of Clark's slave, York. Walker's portrayal gives us an important perspective of the expedition as we see York struggling with his increasing yearnings for freedom." --Steve Turnbull, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Lexington, KY

6. DESIDERATA: Words for Life, by Max Ehrmann, photographs by Marc Tauss (Scholastic, $15.95, 0439372933) "Ehrmann's famous poem, Desiderata, is paired here with Tauss' striking photography and is introduced to a new generation (grades 6 and up). Suitably packaged for gift-giving for all ages, this book makes a handsome and thoughtful graduation present." --Laura Hansen, Bookin' It, Little Falls, MN

7. RIPRAP AND COLD MOUNTAIN POEMS, by Gary Snyder (Shoemaker & Hoard, $12 paper, 1593760159) "This marvelous collection was my introduction to Snyder's richly rewarding work. His words seem at once ancient and settled, and, yet, they are also pulsing and urgent. It is a gift to have this back in print." --Michael Barnard, Rakestraw Books, Danville, CA

8. RISKING EVERYTHING: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation, edited by Roger Housden (Harmony, $20, 1400047994) "This wonderful collection -- featuring the work of writers from around the world and throughout history -- pushes us to further examine our place in this world. I have picked up this book again and again to find inspiration that follows me through the day." --Barb Wieser, Amazon Bookstore Cooperative, Minneapolis, MN

9. WITHOUT END: New and Selected Poems, by Adam Zagajewski (FSG, $15, paper, 0374528616) "This collection illustrates what truly great poetry is -- the distillation of complex philosophical and probing questions into a language that leaves you breathless. To gain insight while being dazzled -- what a concept! As the poet says, these poems allow us 'to experience astonishment and to stop still in that astonishment for a long moment or two.'" --Shawn Wathen, Chapter One Book Store, Hamilton, MT

10. VIEW WITH A GRAIN OF SAND: Selected Poems, by Wislawa Szymborska (Harvest, $14, paper, 0156002167) "Szymborska, the winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Literature, richly deserved the award, as these 100 poems from six of her earlier works attest. 'Love at First Sight' ends with these lines: 'Every beginning/ is only a sequel, after all/ and the book of events/ is always open half way through.'" --Jan Owens, Millrace Books, Farmington, CT