The 13th floor of 360 Park Avenue South (that is, LJ, PW, and Criticas) held our first grand free-books giveaway for other employees in our building last Wednesday. Now, before you balk and scream “Fairfax Library!” note that we’ve tried to donate them, but we’ve tried for years, in the meantime accumulating hundreds of mostly paperback and picked over books. (An editor with a Paris travel guide from 2003 in hand asked whether I thought much had changed there since then.) 

But the point is, as I was cleaning out what was left over after a day of passive weeding on our part and one of active acquisition on the part of others, I was struck by what was left: mass-market alien books and a lot of poetry.

So, with all that is ignored, what kind of poetry do people want?  A poetry best seller list that ran in the April 1, 2006 issue showed big names Billy Collins, Ted Kooser, and Mary Oliver; musicians/poets Patti Smith, Tupac Shakur, and Saul Williams; old classics Beowulf and The Odyssey; and, of course, a couple of anthologies edited by Garrison Keillor.

Check out Barbara Hoffert’s last best-poetry roundup—and look for the ‘06 list coming this spring—in which she encourages forming a poetry reading group. I was happy to see an overlap of poets Ted Kooser, W.S. Merwin, Wislawa Szymborska, and Jane Kenyon on Barbara’s list of the best and on the best seller list. 

So, poets and readers, be optimistic. Even if many books of verse are off to book heaven at a young age, the “best” are diverse and thriving. And start a poetry book club to save the new poetry! (Or we could work on reviving the consumption of alien mass-market books if you prefer.)  I’d love to hear how your poetry sections fare.