The Pittsburgh Book of Contemporary American Poetry

Published to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Pitt Poetry Series, this anthology does not give a full picture of what is perhaps the nation's most distinctive poetry publishing venture. Only 45 of the 101 writers the series has published are included, all with volumes currently in print ``in hopes that the reader will be motivated to buy and read the full-length collections. . . .'' Archibald Macleish, Shirley Kaufman and Michael S. Harper, three of the series' early luminaries, are absent. And, since Ochester replaced Paul Zimmer as editor in 1978, the majority of the series' in-print books are his selections. Ochester's preference for a poetry of commitment, devoid of trivialities, is clear. One reads the prison jottings of Etheridge Knight, Gary Soto's portraits of migrant workers, or Irene McKinney's pieces about the lives of coal miners, and realizes how heavily this anthology is weighted toward working-class views. Instead of pieces paying tribute to family members, we find Sharon Olds's horrific poems of traumas hinting at incest, or Maxine Scates's poems of a mother's desertion, a grandmother in the madhouse. Lorna Dee Cervantes, Toi Derricotte and others offer insights into the lives of families attempting to preserve their non-white roots. The majority of these poems are not lyrical, but none are prosaic either, and a surprising number of long poems are included. Oresick wrote Definitions. Author photos not seen by PW. (May)