I think this is the third of these Garrison Keillor collections that I have read. The others were called "Good Poems" and "Good Poems for hard times". I must say that they are the best multi author poetry anthologies that I have, and I see about a dozen of them across the room. Keillor's selections are often relatively short, simple and direct, include many different modern poets, and are arranged well with both similarities and differences between consecutive entries apparent. Ultimately, I suppose, he just has good taste. If he has no plans to publish a new collection, I will start over again with the first one. ( )

This is a collection of poems that are best read just a few at a time. They are grouped together in themes like On the Road, City Life, Snow etc. Some of them are very good, most are meh.

library book read 3/27/2023 ( )

I wanted to love this book. I love poetry about places, but sometimes the places were more abstract. Sometimes the poetry styles were more prose-like. I expected more poems I recognizes. In the end, the poems I enjoyed most were those I recognized--usually because of familiar song lyrics. There was not a single poem by Carl Sandburg, Mary Oliver, Robert Frost, or Maya Angelou in this collection. I'm sure the author omitted other well-regarded poets. That was a huge oversight. I'm glad I borrowed this from the library rather than purchasing it. ( )

What I like about this book is the range of topics, including the titallating "The Place Where We Were Naked". I really like a poem that is a snapshot of a tiny slice of life, no matter what it is. This book should have several good examples of that no matter what the interest. I would definitely have it in a high school classroom to find poems to accompany other topics...and see if the kids are enterprising enough to find the section mentioned above! ( )

I used to read a lot of poetry. Even wrote a few, some of which I still like. Nowadays, it seems, the only poems I read are in Garrison Keillor's thoughtful selections (this is his third book of poems he has edited which I have read). I can't say there are any which will stick in my memory as many did when I read them in my youth, but there are many here that made me stop for a moment or two to appreciate. Why do so few poems I read these days pay any attention to rhyme or meter? Not that they are imperative; several good poems here read very much like eloquent prose. But they are aspects of poems I appreciate when done well. Anyway, just for my own reference, my favorites were "Cottonwoods" by Phebe Hanson (p.27), "City of Tonawanda Softball Championship" by Sarah Freligh (p.57), "The Day I Made My Father Proud" by Michael Moran (p. 142), "To make a prairie" by Emily Dickinson" (the only "name" poet of several in this book I truly liked) (p. 171), "A Small Excursion" by Mona Van Duyn (p. 183), "Shopping" by Faith Shearin (p. 234), and "Notes from the Delivery Room" by Linda Pastan (p.323). And Garrison Keillor himself, no mean writer he, had a line in his foreword that I quite liked, when he was reflecting on an oft-voiced sentiment by his mother when looking at a picturesque landscape, wondering how one could look on this and say there is no God? "To base one's faith on beautiful scenery", Keillor wrote, "is to leave oneself open to grave doubt if you should visit Oklahoma." ( )