I’ve had an up-and-down relationship with The Pushcart Prize series. The early books were great with wonderful short stories and essays and poetry from small presses too obscure for most of us to find. But gradually, the yearly Pushcart Prize books grew in size. I found more and more mediocre work in those pages. Now, after 40 years, the Pushcart Prize collection has swollen to 654 pages. The best essay is Joyce Carol Oates’s “The Childhood of the Reader,” in praise of libraries. The best short story is “Map-Reading” by Richard Bausch. The most terrifying piece in this swollen anthology is “Food and Worker Safety Across the Globe: A Nervous and Incomplete Case Study” by Windy Rawlings. I’m still dubious (as I have been from Day One) about their poetry selections. I can’t recommend any of them. GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
NTRODUCTION, Bill Henderson
MISS ADELE AMIDST THE CORSETS, Zadie Smith
SINGER, Maxine Scates
VISION, Tiffany Briere
SNOW WHITE, Chloe Honum
YELLOW CLAW, Lucia Perillo
TELREF, Edward McPherson
SNAPSHOT, Kurt Brown
THE AGE OF SKIN, Dubravka Ugresic
MUDFEST, Marianne Boruch
THE BRANCH WAY OF DOING, Wendell Berry
ADVERTISING, John Challis
SH’KHOL, Colum McCann
BROKEN CUP, Margaret Gibson
WANDERLUST, Laleh Khadivi
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, Morgan Parker
JESUS RAVES, Jordan Kisner
LOVE POEM, Michael Marberry
ARTIST’S STATEMENT, James Hannaham
THE AUTISTIC SON, Scott Morgan
MAP-READING, Richard Bausch
PORN, Dorothea Lasky
FOUR-WAY STOP, George Singleton
MY FATHER’S LAUNDRY, Sue Ellen Thompson
FATHER JUNIPERO ADMONISHES A BIRD, Poe Ballantine
TEMPLE GAUDETE, Lisa Russ Spaar
THE WEAVE, Charles Johnson
VERNACULAR OWL, Thomas Sayers Ellis
FEAR ITSELF, Katie Coyle
FIRST SNOW, Andrea Hollander
THING WITH FEATHERS THAT PERCHES IN THE SOUL, Anthony Doerr
PICTURE OF A RIVER, Julia Story
PARADISE COVE, Lisa Lee
THE JOINS, Chana Bloch
THE KNOWLEDGE GALLERY, Joanna Scott
WAIST, Afaa Michael Weaver
THE CHILDHOOD OF THE READER, Joyce Carol Oates
from A TILT IN THE WONDERING, Nicole Brossard
BURY ME, Allegra Hyde
WHITE LILIES, Rachel Rose’
PAST THE ECONOLODGE, Brandon Hobson
A SINGLE DELIBERATE THING, Zebbie Watson
HOLI: EQUINOX APPROACHES, Raena Shirali
A RING OF BELLS, Catherine Jagoe
SONG FOR PICKING UP, Tony Hoagland
MEZZO, Kate Petersen
THE SOLDIER OF MICTLAN, Rigoberto Gonzalez
TRAIN TO HARBIN, Asako Serizawa
WAITING FOR RAIN, Ellen Bass
FOOD AND WORKERS SAFETY ACROSS THE GLOBE:
A NERVOUS AND INCOMPLETE CASE STUDY, Wendy Rawlings
EVERY MACHINE HAS ITS PARTS, Bob Hicok
HOLLYWOOD AND TOADVINE, Christian Kiefer
BOMB, Daniel Lusk
VARIATIONS ON A PSALM, Edward Hirsch
WHAT HAPPENED TO US?, Dan Chaon
MIGRATION INSTINCT,Keetje Kuipers
CONSTANCE BAILEY IN THE YEAR OF MONICA LEWINSKY, Sarah Vallance
HOLY NIGHT, Dan Albergotti
LONG BRIGHT LINE, Josh Weil
A COTTONY FATE, Jane Hirshfield
THE ORANGE PARKA, E. A. Durden
IMMIGRATION, Kevin Prufer
HELL, Meghan O’Gieblyn
THE CLOUD, Ann Beattie
DEATH DEFIANT BOMBA…, Lilliam Rivera
WINTER, 1965, Frederic Tuten
PROJECT FUMARASE, April L. Ford
THE TRUE SEER HEARS, Barbara Hurd
NIGHTMOVERS, Perry Janes