Some of these are genuinely great poems and some are rather simplistic yet still are well written, but then there's a chunk that are just random sentences strung together. And yea, free verse is a thing—most to all of the poems in this are—but they come across more as ramblings that have nothing to do with each other. Even in terms of imagery and other modes of figurative language. I know this is supposed to be current poets and thus it's going to cover a broad range of topics but I wish there was a certain theme/main topic that all the poems were about. Because a few of the poems I can recall vividly what they're about due to their placement being so jarring. Especially in connection with the poems that came before it instead of what is said in the poem itself.

This collection was not as satisfying to read as I thought it was going to be. That said, I did find a few poets that I want to read more of. So kudos for that. ( )

See my full review @ https://readrantrockandroll.com/2017/08/28/please-excuse-this-poem-100-new-poets...

I picked this up from my local library a while back after there was some controversy with a few parents over the book being considered YA due to the content. They felt that it was inappropriate and came in complaining about the book after their kids brought it home. At the age of 11, my oldest daughter is starting to read some YA and I thought I’d like to check this one out to see what the fuss was all about and if it’s something she could read. Plus, I love poetry.

The book is a compilation of about one hundred poems from different authors on various topics including racism, drug use, sexual orientation, sexual abuse, common problems that teens experience with friends and family, and others. It does contain some profanity. It’s a good mix of poems and I loved some and didn’t like others. A few of my favorites are:

“Richer Than Anyone in Heaven,”

“Boyishly”

“High-School Picture Re-Take Day”

“That’s Everything Inevitable”

“Sonnet”

“Second Summer”

“The Wait for Cake”

My absolute favorite was:
“Concerning the Land to the South of Our Neighbors to the North.”

I enjoyed the book, but I’m not sure about this being used in classrooms and feel that it might be best for upper high school due to some of the content. YA can mean different ages from twelve all the way up to twenty-five and I noticed that School Library Journal lists this as tenth grade and up, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for all tenth graders. Some of these poems are intense and a few can be offensive. It’s books like these that make me wish (even more) that there was a rating system in place for books just like movies, then parents and teachers could decide right away whether a book is or isn’t appropriate for their readers. I’m no expert, but in my opinion, even as an adult you really have to go into this book with an open mind.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the afterward which contains information about the poets and some short Q&A’s for each. What I didn’t like was that the questions asked were about favorite foods. artists, and mottos. I would’ve liked to learn why they wrote the poem that was featured in the book and what inspired them to write these poems in the first place.

My rating on this is 3.5*** ( )

Favorite poem in the book: Rape Joke by Patricia Lockwood ( )