The best American poetry 2008

Evening song / Tom Andrews

Exceptions and melancholies / Ralph Angel

Framing / Rae Armantrout

Pavane pour Helen Twelvetrees / John Ashbery

Untitled / Joshua Beckman

Poseur / Marvin Bell

Ku(na)hay / Charles Bernstein

Electrocuting an elephant / Ciaran Berry

If see no end in is / Frank Bidart

Wanting sumptuous heavens / Robert Bly

Night hunting / John Casteen

Entering / Laura Cronk

Homage to Calvin Spotswood / Kate Daniels

Men / Lydia Davis

Parallax / Erica Dawson

Handymen / Cornelius Eady

Millay goes down / Moira Egan

Aubade in autumn / Peter Everwine

The museum of stones / Carolyn Forché

Rock polisher / Chris Forhan

In the book of the disappearing book / John Gallaher

Girl without her nightgown / James Galvin

Threshing / Louise Glück

Futures / Jorie Graham

I am your waiter tonight and my name is Dmitri / Robert Hass

O my pa-pa / Bob Hicok

Phone booth / Brenda Hillman

Muchness / Tony Hoagland

Cane fire / Garrett Hongo

The rape of the daughters of Leucippus by Castor and Pollux / Richard Howard

Snoring / Mark Jarman

Francis Ponge is on fire / George Kalamaras

Recuperation from the dead love through Christ and Isaac Babel / Mary Karr

Though he tarry / Maxine Kumin

Skull trees, South Sudan / Adrie Kusserow

from Hallelujah blackout / Alex Lemon

Of love and other disasters / Philip Levine

Resignation / J.D. McClatchy

The last wolf in Edmonson County / Davis McCombs

A letter to Su Tong P'o / W.S. Merwin

Ritual / Susan Mitchell

The water cooler / Paul Muldoon

The gate of Abraham / D. Nurkse

Every night / Debra Nystrom

The window at Arles / Meghan O'Rourke

Method, or Kenneth Koch / Ron Padgett

The classical study (4) / Michael Palmer

Cosmos, late blooming / D.A. Powell

The rain that falls here / Alberto Ríos

Then let fall your horrible pleasure / Tim Ross

Three lanterns / John Rybicki

American / Ira Sadoff

The aurora of the new mind / David St. John

World news / Sherod Santos

Evening man / Frederick Seidel

Listen / Charles Simic

Tara / Patti Smith

Pentecost / R.T. Smith

Hexagon: on truth / Dave Snyder

Cricket / Lisa Ross Spaar

The shoe / Kathryn Starbuck

Divide and conquer / Alan Sullivan

The sentence / Chad Sweeney

The troubadours etc. / Mary Szybist

National security / James Tate

On captivity / Natasha Trethewey

Thomas Hardy / Lee Upton

Faithful / Dara Wier

Light / C.K. Williams

Passing scenes (while reading Basho) / Franz Wright

Language exists because

/

Lynn Xu

Sepsis / C. Dale Young

The dead from Iraq / David Young

No forgiveness ode / Dean Young

from Book of hours / Kevin Young.