The New Yorker Rounds Up Its Best Poetry of 2019

Hannah Aizenman highlights poems printed by the New Yorker this year. Excerpts are from "a number of contributors new to our pages, among them Ariel Francisco, Aria Aber, and Kwame Dawes, along with offerings from poets we’ve published for decades, including Rita Dove, Sharon Olds, and the late Ciaran Carson, whose death, in October, was grieved by the international literary community." One of the chosen few is Terrance Hayes:

1. “American Sonnet for the New Year,” by Terrance Hayes (January 14th)

things got terribly ugly incredibly quickly
things got ugly embarrassingly quickly
actually things got ugly unbelievably quickly
honestly things got ugly seemingly infrequently
initially things got ugly ironically usually
awfully carefully things got ugly unsuccessfully
occasionally things got ugly mostly painstakingly
quietly seemingly things got ugly beautifully . . . 

Get a more detailed look at the New Yorker.