Poetry After 9/11 ─ An Anthology of New York Poets

The 10th anniversary edition of this important and inspiring collection is a sweeping overview of poetry written in New York in the year after the 9/11 attacks.

This 10th anniversary edition of the popular anthology contains poems by forty-five of the most important poets of the day, as well as some of the literary world’s most dynamic young voices, all writing in New York City in the year immediately following the World Trade Center attacks.

After 9/11 poetry was everywhere—on telephone poles, on warehouse walls, in the bus shelters. People spontaneously turned to poetry to understand and cope with the tragedy of the attack. Full of humor, love, rage and fear, this diverse collection of poems attests to the power of poetry to express and to heal the human spirit.

Featuring poems by Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Dunn; Best American Poetry series editor David Lehman; National Book Award winner and New York State Poet Jean Valentine; the first ever Nuyorican Slam-Poetry champ; poets laureate of Brooklyn and Queens; and a poem and introduction by National Book Award finalist Alicia Ostriker.

Dennis Loy Johnson and Valerie Merians are the founders of Melville House Publishing. They began the publishing house with this book.

Alicia Ostriker, twice nominated for a National Book Award, is a renowned poet and author of twelve volumes of poetry, most recently The Book of Seventy.