Selections from three earlier volumes reflect the distinguished poet's response to the realities of modern life.

Publisher's description: Celebrated novelist, poet, and MacArthur fellow Ishmael Reed pushes the boundaries once again in the publication of From Totems to Hip Hop--a truly all-inclusive multicultural anthology-a literary event which will finally even the playing field. This collection synthesizes and presents broad swaths of work from poets of all races and backgrounds, as only Reed can, ranging from Gertrude Stein to Ai, from Bessie Smith to Askia...

For 90 years "Poetry" has been America's most distinguished magazine of verse. This 90th anniversary anthology may be the most bountiful collection of American poems ever published. It offers a record of poetic achievement as well as some of the vagaries, fads, fashions, and failures of the last 90 years.