Poetry best sellers for the week of July 18, 2010

David Kirby made a compelling argument for poetry’s pointlessness in his New York Times review of Maxine Kumin’s “deeply satisfying” new and selected poems, Where I Live. His argument seems to have struck a chord as Where I Live has surged to the top of the contemporary best seller list this week, knocking poet laureate W.S. Merwin out of the top spot. Also returning to the list this week is Rachel Zucker’s Museum of Accidents, at number 30, and Jason Koo’s Man on an Extremely Small Island, at number 28, which ties the only debut title this week, Out of Sight: New and Selected Poems by Eamon Grennan.