New British Poetry (2004)
New British Poetry is a 2004 poetry anthology edited by Scots poet Don Paterson and American poet Charles Simic. In his preface, Simic wrote: "To make it as current as possible, Don Paterson and I decided to include only poets born after 1945 who have had at least two books published. Aside from that constraint, our plan was simply to read a lot of poetry and pick out poems we like." In a review of the book, Zachariah Wells writes that the editors "favour taste over tact, to exclude work from that school of opaque hermeticism  known variously as 'experimental,' 'postmodern' or 'avant-garde' poetry. This is a conscious decision, made explicit by Paterson [...]" Paterson, in his "passionately opinionated" introduction, has a defense of mainstream poetry: Poets included. The volume includes work from 36 poets from England, Scotland, and Wales (not Northern Ireland): Other information. (paperback) 256 pages