The Made Thing: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern Poetry

Southern poetry is synonymous with a realistic view of a world, a world sometimes hard and harsh as the lives of many of its poets. This anthology, now in its second edition, provides one of the finest resources for people interested in contemporary poetry. Dr. Leon Stokesbury, long-time English professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta, includes an expanded list of poets numbering sixty-six, twelve more than in the 1987 edition. Several poets from the first edition did not make the current volume. No particular school or style of poetry writing dominates, and the poems are as varied as the poets themselves.Each author's photograph is included, as well as a short biography; the numbers of poems range from three to eight per poet. Some of America's greatest contemporary poets are anthologized, Miller Williams, Wendell Berry, James Dickey, Fred Chappell, Dave Smith, George Garrett, Henry Taylor, David Bottoms, John Stone, Alice Walker, Donald Justice, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Robert Penn Warren. With The Made Thing, Stokesbury has given readers a fine resource useful for reflection, enjoyment, and even a tool for the poet's desk. Spending time reading this collection is a joy for lovers of poetry and lovers of the South.-----------Reviewed by Dayne Sherman

stokesbury has put together a wonderful collection of the best of the contemporary southern poets. all of them are here: Dickey, Yusef Komunyakaa, Miller Williams, R.S. Gwynn, Alice Walker, Wendell Berry, Fred Chappell, Jarman, Hudgins, Jim Hall, as well as many other southern poets. it's a great collection for anyone interested in contemporary poetry.

Leon Stokesbury's anthology of Southern Poetry is defined not just by geography but by style. The careful selections made by Stokesbury help the literary reader study and appreciate Southern poetry. They also help the non-literary reader study and appreciate the South. Fans of Southern prose writers such as Harry Crews, Faulkner or Wolfe should find The Made Thing a rewarding experience. Beware, though. You'll find yourself out buying anthologies of James Dickey and Robert Warren and all the rest. At last you may be broke and alone with your books, writing sad southern tales of struggle and death in the natural world you have come to own.

THE MADE THING is indispensable in the classroom; poem after poem is applicable to life as we know it in the south, and is strong enough to even stir the most lackluster high school senior. As far as the reader from N.C.'s comments go, I'm not sure what difference it makes that a large number of the poets in THE MADE THING are graduates of the University of Arkansas programs in creative writing. Unless, of course, you're a disgruntled UNCG graduate who aspires to be anthologized by U of A grads.