Best American Poetry 1992

I have a copy of The Best American Poetry 1992. I bought it for $.50 outside a library in Rancho Cucomonga.

It is not that 1992 was an especially auspicious year for American poets, it is just that this book was published in 1992 as a compendium of notable poems that year. I know this, I do, but still I can not help but favor the idea of a vintage for poetry. It is as though the weather that year was unusually favorable for writing poetry. Maybe there were more cloudy days than sunny ones or there was a great deal more rain than normal. There would definitely need to be a surplus of foggy days. Whatever it was people would look back on the poetry of that year and smile.

I like to think this way because that way, when I sit down with the Best American Poetry of 1992, I can imagine tasting the spirit of those times and relish in the products of a good year.