The whole Best American Poetry controversy calls to attention some of the long-existing assumptions about certain ethnicities and cultures. Alexie’s statement clearly explains his intention: to ‘encourage debate and celebrate imagination’, and scrutinise the 2015 anthology’s aesthetic range, cultural and racial representation, gender equality and nepotism. It is a goal well achieved: among the 75 poets collected in Best American Poetry 2015, approximately 60 per cent are female and 40 per cent are people of colour; 15 per cent of the poems chosen were first published on the Internet.