SO, I WONDERED, would Dana Gioia's being editor mean a swing to a more traditional, conservative BAP? Turns out, not really. There are some poems from periodicals not typically represented in the series--First Things, New Criterion--but the overall impression is not that different from other volumes from recent years.
Natasha Trethewey's 2017 selection may have had a few more identity-engagement poems, but Gioia has several (Robin Coste Lewis's and Wang Ping's made particular impressions on me); Gioia's may have more sonnets than Trethewey's, but hers had plenty of sonnets. Terrance Hayes showed up in both, making the useful point that there is no rule saying a sonnet cannot be engaged with issues of identity. (He's in the 2019 volume too, I see).
Does the considerable overlap between Gioia's selection and Trethewey's (which for that matter had a lot of overlap with Edward Hirsch's 2016 selection) imply that some kind of consensus now reigns about what worthwhile poetry looks like, sounds like, chooses to address?
Probably not, actually.
Are they ever going to let Ron Silliman have an at bat in this series?
Probably not.
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