Ploughshares Spring 2015 Poetry Edition

I've been reading Ploughshares as a subscriber for about three years now, but I would read it casually before then. And if you've ever read some of the "Best Short Stories of ____" series, then you've probably run across some of their published material.

Typically, the format includes short fiction and poetry from American authors. Occasionally, they do an all prose edition. This is the first time I've received an all poetry edition. Initially I was pretty excited, as my exposure, sad to say, to poetry comes exclusively from my Ploughshares subscription. And all told, I've really enjoyed the poetry that is typically published.

So the Spring 2015 edition was all poetry and instead of just American authors, this collection used a British editor and pulled selections from British, Irish and American authors. Some authors are immigrants of those countries, some selections were written in the original Gaelic text (translated, thankfully as well). As I was reading, I kept in mind that I would eventually review the entire collection and I wanted to be able to point to a few of my favorite poems.

As I was approaching the halfway mark, I realized I hadn't really marked any yet. Hmmm... was this an effect of me reading before bed and really not being in the right frame of mind for poetry? Am I just so obtuse that I'm not getting the profound nature of some of these poems? Am I simply on poetry overload? Or, am I just not connecting with the subject matter? I'm not sure what the answer is.

While I typically really enjoy the selected poems printed in Ploughshares, I didn't feel that about this edition. The poems present an interesting collection, and they certainly span a wide array of style and voice. I just didn't find any that I thought, absolutely, I need to read that again and again and pull out a quote and put it on my wall. 



That said, I did really enjoy "The Case of the Inconvenient Corpse" by Tracey Herd, "Return of the Native" by Suji Kwock Kim, "Psalm" by Dorianne Laux, "Ode While Awaiting Execution" by Thomas Lux, "Freudiana" by Jamie McKendrick, "Anthropologies" by Kate Potts, "Atropa Belladonna" by Austin Smith, and "My Problem" by Matthew Sweeney.

So I feel kind of lukewarm about this edition, although overall when I receive Ploughshares in my mailbox it makes me insanely happy.

3/5 Stars.