Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation

Edited by Brett Fletcher Lauer and Lynn Melnick and introduced by Carolyn Forché, this anthology features one hundred poems by one hundred acclaimed younger poets from diverse backgrounds and points of view. Aimed at teenagers and older, the poems tackle a range of complicated life issues. As Forché writes, "Most poets begin writing poetry in secret....The poet begins to understand that when she picks up her pen, she doesn't know what's going to happen. The poet knows only that when he's writing, his true self is speaking on paper or in his thoughts, strangely and without fear. This anthology is a collection of such poems." Contributors include Stephen BurtMatthea HarveyTerrance HayesMajor JacksonJoanna KlinkDorothea Lasky, and D. A. Powell, among many others.