Poetry has long been regarded as an effete interest of the hyper-literate cultural elite-but literary scholars Ross and Kathryn Petras are here to turn that notion on its head. They have found that-just as ancient Greek poets declaimed in the agora-today's greatest poetic talents are right under our noses: in the news, in the papers, on Twitter and Facebook. The Anthology of Really Important Modern Poetry celebrates lyricism of such unsung poets as Snooki, Newt Gingrich, and Joe Biden by crafting their words into the poems they actually are.
Poets range from Kanye West ("I won't go into a big spiel/about reincarnation/But the first time I was in the Gucci Store/in Chicago/Was the closest I've ever felt/to home") to Senator Chuck Schumer ("Biking through New York's boroughs in 2005/I thought about some old friends, Joe and Eileen Bailey./Though they are imaginary,/I frequently talk to them.")
Arranged by theme and poetic school, just as in Norton, these poems are truly the pinnacle of today's modern poetics. Sections including Children's Poetry, Poet-Activists, and The Multicultural School, with boxed sections for special works like the towering "If Walt Whitman Were a Woman from Wasilla, or O (former) Governor! My (former) Governor!" by Sarah Palin.
