Walk on the Wild Side: Urban American Poetry Since 1975

"Walk on the Wild Side," the first anthology to plumb the maze of American urban life, gives us the city in all its forms: ethnic, economic, religious, political, sexual, intellectual. Poet and novelist Nicholas Christopher has chosen 115 poems from sixty poets, representing more than twenty cities. These are not just poems "about" cities, or with the city as subject; they filter and radiate the diversity and vitality of today's cities, from the electric night of New York to the sun-blanked sprawl of Los Angeles, from the factories of Pittsburgh to the waterfront of New Orleans. A kinetic mix of new voices and established writers, "Walk on the Wild Side" presents the timeless themes of poetry through the prism of our unique urban experience.