Poetics of Social Engagement emphasizes the ways in which innovative American poets have blended art and social awareness, focusing on aesthetic experiments and investigations of ethnic, racial, gender, and class subjectivities. Rather than consider poetry as a thing apart, or as a tool for asserting identity, this volume’s poets create sites, forms, and modes for entering the public sphere, contesting injustices, and reimagining the contemporary. Like the earlier anthologies in this series, this volume includes generous selections of poetry as well as illuminating poetics statements and incisive essays. This unique organization makes these books invaluable teaching tools. A companion website will present audio of each poet’s work.

Poets included:

Rosa Alcalá

Brian Blanchfield

Daniel Borzutzky

Carmen Giménez Smith

Cathy Park Hong

Christine Hume

Bhanu Kapil

Mauricio Kilwein Guevara

Fred Moten

Craig Santos Perez

Barbara Jane Reyes

Roberto Tejada

Edwin Torres

Essayists included:

John Alba Cutler

Chris Nealon

Kristin Dykstra

Joyelle McSweeney

Danielle Pafunda

Molly Bendall

Eunsong Kim

Michael Dowdy

Brent Hayes Edwards

J. Michael Martinez

Martin Joseph Ponce

David Colón

Urayoán Noel