On Lehman's Largesse: Little Postmodern Decipiences Poem by Frank Avon

Every year I look forward the the new volume of BEST AMERICAN POETRY. I have every volume since its beginning in 1988. I always order it in advance and wait impatiently until September. And almost always I'm disappointed. I read them avidly and often have not idea what I just read. Sometime the endnotes help; just as often they are just as indirect as the poems they comment upon. Most of the time the poets included teach poetry writing to others just like themselves, submit their work to editors just like themselves who teach poetry writing at other colleges and universities, hire their colleagues' students, and judge contests to determine who get all those awards they give each other - oh, yes, and edit BEST AMERICAN POETRY, year after year, selecting each others' poems: 'little postmodern decipiences, ' they are called in the 2014 introduction (p.xxvii)