Dear David: : "What do you plan to do once you become a time millionaire?"

 

The cat's out of the bag.

I'm retiring.

The Best American Poetry 2025, edited by Terence Winch, will be the last book in the BAP series under my supervision. That's thirty-eight annual volumes since 1988 plus two "best of the best" retrospectives, for a grand total of forty BAP books. Scribner has also published two anthologies I edited (Great American Prose Poems and The Best American Erotic Poems) and seven individual collections of my poems, including Valentine Place, The Daily Mirror, and When a Woman Loves a Man. It's been a great run.

People ask: "What do you plan to do once you become a time millionaire?"

Hard to answer that hypothetical, but I can affirm with some confidence that my staff and I will continue our BAP web site, our archive, our blog, and our weekly newsletter. An editor's job is never done. Besides which, I will continue to write poems and to play shuffleboard in warm weather. -- DL

Comments

[Mindy Aloff]

Bravo, David. Editor in excelsis.
Essayist, too. And, happily, your poem-songs continue.

[Miranda Beeson]

Bravo David for all that you do for the love of poetry.
(And it's a lot.)
Gratitude.
(To new poems & shuffleboard...)

[Peter Fortunato]

Rest. Renew. Repeat—nah, you won't ever be repeating yourself, David.

[Cindy Hochman]

Dear David:

You deserve to be a time millionaire after all your hard work, and it's been a great ride, eh? Kudos on each and every volume of BAP, and thank you for making poetry so accessible (and cool!). So glad that Mr. Winch will be guest-editing the final edition, and I'm looking forward to your next venture, even if it is just seeing photos of you playing shuffleboard. Much love to Stacey too.

[Paul Tracy DANISON]

Dear David,
"Time millionaire", "Time millionaire"? What is this barb'rous concept?
You are a Man of Parts. And a Man of Parts, as is known, creates the time of doing lots of stuff.
Retiring means you get to operate pretty much exclusively inside the time of doing pretty much what you like and still get paid! Oh, you may unclog a drain or deign to jiggle a carburetor or, for the sake of a loved one, fetch a mug of coffee from the kitchen, but all the rest be that rarest of elements, pure pleasure in itself.
I'm looking forward to seeing a special glow of retirement on your forthcoming work!
Congratulations!
Best to you,
Tracy

[Emily Fragos]

Thank you and hearty congratulations on your well-deserved retirement, David. Love, fun, and peace for you and dear Stacey.

[Denise Duhamel]

Congratulations, David!I have loved being part of Best American Poetry and it was the highlight of my professional life to guest edit the 2013 edition with you. I wish you many happy(millions of) hours of reading and writing and shuffleboard and living the good life with Stacey!

[Susan Aizenberg]

Congratulations!

[Susan Wheeler]

You have been one enormous gift to poetry, David, and BAP has been a big part of all you’ve done. I can’t wait to read more David Lehman poems, and all best to you and Stacey. Love, Susan

[Angela Ball]

Large and heartfelt congratulations to you, David Lehman. Words can't touch all you've done for American poetry.

[Stephanie Strickland]

Truly remarkable, David, and much appreciated! May you and Stacey dream and rest and write and turn this time inside out!

[Terence Winch]

David: I'm honored to be part of the grand finale, but your departure is so unwelcome, and you are irreplaceable. Thank you for all those decades of incredible work----as poet, critic, editor, anthologist. A stunning record of achievement.

[Elaine Equi]

Congratulations, David! I'm very happy you'll have more time for your own poems and other new projects. Can't wait to read them. But I will miss BAP coming out every fall. It was a fantastic anthology -- each one different from the last. Thank you for all of them, and especially for letting me be part of the fun and working with you on BAP 2023!

[Anna Ojascastro Guzon]

Congratulations, David. And thank you for your work, which will continue to live on in the innumerable people you've championed, taught, and inspired. My own wide spectrum of students continues to be inspired by your prompts and poetry. Wishing you and Stacy all the Best!

[M. C. Rush]

How DARE you retire before choosing me to guest-edit a BAP?!

Despite this unfathomable oversight, I wish you the very best of your retirement days and hope you'll keep playing with us on NLP.

[JoAnn Anglin]

What everyone else said!

[Sally Ashton]

a MILLION thanks for these much-anticipated, discussed, and enjoyed volumes; for the selection of such brilliant and eclectic guest editors; for your insightful year-in-the rearview mirror Forewords; for filling an entire shelf in my bookcase; for keeping the essential conversations alive: what is poetry? what is American poetry? who gets to decide....aw, I'm going to miss these and the "you" in them. Thank you and blessings on what's next.

[Ken Lauter]

David,

The instant I saw that you were retiring, a famous scene at the end of Lawrence of Arabia popped into my head, where Prince Faisal says to Lawrence, "What I owe you is beyond evaluation."

Borrowing from that I'll say: What the world of poetry owes to David Lehman is literally "beyond evaluation."

What a legacy!

[Patricia Clark]

Congratulations on your retirement! How wonderful! And you're still alive. I still long to be in Best American Poetry. Who will the new editor be? Choose wisely.

All best wishes, Patricia

[Rachel Barenblat]

May there be many beautiful days for shuffleboard and poetry. You've done amazing work and we are all so grateful for you.

[Ace Boggess]

Sad happy news, David. Your contributions will be missed. There were years when your editor's note was more interesting than the poetry. Still, I hope you find a new kind of verse in the free hours. If you have to retire, retire greatly.

[John Stickney]

Such happy news for you! So sad for us. Thank you for all your hard work on our behalf over these many years.

[John Hennessy]

Thank you for all that you’ve done as editor and will continue to do as AUTHOR of so much of the best American poetry, David.

[Angela Sundstrom]

Congrats, David! You have a wonderful legacy and I'm sure some surprises to come.

[Jerome Sala]

Hey David, thanks for all the great anthologies. Happy that the BAP blog continues!