2020 Rattle Young Poets Anthology by Timothy Green

2020 Rattle Young Poets Anthology Reviews

• 
  Alarie

  I greatly respect the many ways Rattle, the poetry journal, expands the audience for poets. They give their published poets extra coverage by republishing poems in emails, and I often enjoy the poems from children (age 15 and under) more than the work of the adults. I sincerely hope that the honor of having their work go out to adult readers will inspire these young people to continue to write and publish, no matter what sort of careers they seek later. What an honor! As they warn on the submission page, “Please remember that we will be choosing our favorite 20 poems from thousands submitted—try not to get anyone’s hopes up prematurely.”
  
  As hard as it must be just to narrow down the finalists, all the comparing of apples to oranges, a glance at the Table of Contents also tells us that Rattle made a real effort to reflect diversity. From “Eid al-Ahda” by Sarah Mohammed and “Hardeep” by Harkiran (Kiram) Narula to Allison Wong’s poem “Hide Your Pearls from the Pirates,” it’s clear we’re not frozen in a Leave It to Beaver world.
  
  The writing is fresh and insightful. The Contributor Notes that answer “Why do you like writing poetry?” are a bit more predictable. Many poets acknowledge it is how they make sense of the world, and many of these children are straddling cultures. In “Hide Your Pearls from the Pirates,” Wong addresses her mother,
  
  “dear mom,
  I’ve never been there
  but did you like it?”
  
  and ends
  
  “…we’re american,
  you say
  chinese and vietnamese, too
  but i’ve lost those traditions
  sorry”
  
  While the teens sound mature and philosophical in their reasons for writing, my favorite answer comes from five-year-old Arthur Santos: “I feel really proud when I make up a poem. It is fun!”
  
• 
  David Anthony Sam

  A delightful collection of poetry by young people, ages 5 to 15. Many of these poems are superior to those written by older, published poets (perhaps after the latter have been groomed by MFA programs?).