Title: The Best of It: New and Selected Poems
Author: Kay Ryan
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic
Year: 2011
288 pages
At their best, Ryan's poems are gem-like, with astounding observations that give a brilliant little flash as you examine them: Oh! At worst, they are doggerel, sing-songly little nothings with no point beyond description (in the manner of giraffe...carafe, though that isn't actually one of her rhymes). This collection includes both and allows a longitudinal look at how Ryan has streamlined and improved her work over time. Her rhymes are less clangy; her abstractions less pronouncements than observations; her descriptions more emblematic or symbolic. This is a very good volume for seeing both ends of her capacity as a poet.
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