Day 31: The Best Poetry of the 20th Century. Seriously.

Day 31 in #BookSpine365. Visit a title a day from my bookshelf. The final day in the first month of the project. Eleven more months to go. Huzzahs are in order. 

I adore anthologies. I get a little smorgasbord of some of the best (and sometimes not so great) poems that I adore, and venture into new territory. This beloved copy of mine The Voice That Is Great Within Us explores the genre of American poetry of the 20th century.

I'm talking some of the greatest names in the game here: Frost, Ezra Pound, Patricia Low, Robert Kelly, Eliot, Ginsberg, Marianne Moore and so much more. My mass market paperback has yellowed a bit at the edges, but is barely wrinkled. I have several book markers in for my favorites, including An Undefined Tenderness by Joel Oppenheimer, I Am Not Yours by Sara Teasdale and my favorite poem of all time: 

I Like My Body When It Is With Your 
by E.E. Cummings.

i like my body when it is with your

body.   It is so quite a new thing. 

Muscles better and nerves more. 

i like your body.   i like what it does,

i like it's hows.  i like to feel the spine

of your body and its bones, and the trembling

-firm-smooth  ness and which i will 

again and again and again

kiss,  i like kissing this and that of you,

i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz

of your electric fur, and what-is-it comes

over parting flesh....And eyes big love-crumbs 

and possibly i like the thrill

of under me you so quite new

~e.e.cummings 

So you see, this 722 page book holds quite a remarkable piece of history and lovely literature. I will always treasure this title. Especially the book smell. Ah, the book smell. 

Book Details

Title: The Voice That is Great Within Us

Author: Anthology/Various. Hayden Carruth.

Format: Poetry.mass market paperback. 722 pages. ©1970 Bantom Books

Contents: half title page, acknowledgements, dedication, foreward, table of contents.

-brrivera