Bettering American Poetry 2015 - Paperback

by Vanessa Angelica Villarreal (Editor), Nikki Wallschlaeger (Editor), Sarah Clark (Editor)

We feel that to "better" American poetry is to jam dominant systems of taste to the best of our abilities, and to resignify the very phrase "American poetry" with the languages that it so desperately lacks. We intend to center voices of resistance, subjectivities that emerge from the radical margins, artists whose Americanness transcends nationalism and other borders, perspectives historically denied institutional backing--in short, poets and poetries that are urgent and necessary but do not get along nicely with Power.

"Soaring and raw, these poems 'better' American Poetry by battering down racial pieties of our white neoliberal nation. This anthology is an explosive Cri de Coeur of these times." - Cathy Park Hong

"Resistance and action have always been key elements of progress, and I'm so encouraged that Bettering American Poetry exists and super humbled to be a part of it. We need this poetry, these voices, this perspective--and the poems are just really freaking good!" - Tommy Pico

"Bettering American Poetry is verse of the most urgent kind. In this moment of rising fear and resentment these poets write with a deep regard for all peoples. This is the kind of work that will take us through the next 4 years and the next 100." - Nate Marshall

Author Biography

Our goal is to model a collaborative editorial venture that breaks with the anemic capitalizing tradition and goes ahead of institutional efforts that rank poems as the "best". The "best" hides the subjective goals and values of the few determining what work should receive visibility and reward. The "best" implies that some voices should be prioritized over others. We wish to challenge the idea that a few gatekeepers should oversee the publishing order each year by actively defining and maintaining a hierarchy of voices, an order that replicates the status quo that tokenizes and marginalizes difference. Our efforts will intentionally shift favor so that the literary landscape within this anthology reflects a ranging plurality of voices in American poetry and illuminates the possibilities of sharing space.

We want work that is unafraid to look, to shake shit up, to speak. We are interested in poems that challenge patriarchal and white supremacist power structures. We love poems that burn misogynist, homophobic, ableist, transphobic, racist, xenophobic attitudes and behaviors at the core. Poems that critique the dominant culture and flummox the status quo, that speak with voices historically misrepresented, underrepresented, censored, and silenced make us sit up and listen hard. We want poetry that revolts, disobeys, mucks up the accepted order and betrays nepotistic allegiances. We long for poems that sting, love without fear and exist without fear. We want to swoon over your clashing engagements with the world.