The magazine has introduced new poets as well as defined the poetry of a particular time in history. Among the poets represented in this collection are Robert Bly, Eavan Boland, Hayden Carruth, Lucille Clifton, Carolyn Forche, Allen Ginsberg, Louise Gluck, lone Graham, W. S. Merwin, Frank O'Hara, Sharon Olds, Sylvia Plath, Derek Walcott and James Wright.

From the most experimental, radical language poetry to traditionally formal poetry, The Body Electric captures the spirit of contemporary American poetry and provides a breathtaking, incomparable overviewof American poetry at the millennium.