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poetry recs? i'm open to anything, but here's a list of authors i enjoy: ilya kaminsky, danez smith, chen chen, richard siken, warsan shire, kaveh akbar, anne carson, federico garcía lorca, pablo neruda, edgar allan poe, mary oliver.
Elizabeth Bishop: the GOAT. Everything is amazing. Start with “Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore.” Donald Hall: Great author for autumn. Writes beautiful nature poetry as well as visceral poetry about the loss of his wife. John Donne: I’ve only started reading him recently. He’s interesting to read these days because his more erotic writings feel so modern but his religious writings feel so foreign to today—it’s a strange mix. I’m enjoying it. Derek Walcott: Also only started reading him, but he’s great. “Omeros” is his masterwork, but I’ve only read a handful of his poems, but I’ve enjoyed them so much that I’m reading “The Iliad” in order to better understand “Omeros” once I do read it (“Omeros” is based on “The Iliad.”) A while ago, I also read an anthology called “The Hungry Ear,” which was fun; it was all poetry about food :)
re Bishop : I went all the way through her Collected Poems and by the end was just like "well i don't get it" BUT if there's one thing she can write that I can connect to, it's winters in New England. Like I swear I've seen the house she talks about in The End of March. like: I'd like to retire there and do nothing, or nothing much, forever, in two bare rooms: look through binoculars, read boring books, old, long, long books, and write down useless notes, same, sister
thank you for such detailed recs! invitation to miss marianne moore was lovely and reminded me of lorca, i'll have to look into her collected poems. also read a couple from donne and hall, both interest me! i hope you're having a good time with the iliad, i read lattimore's translation and enjoyed it immensely. definitely gonna pick up omeros! as for the anthology, i'm unsure how i'll feel considering i'm vegan, but i might give it a shot anyway and see how it goes :)
not a specific author but i've been going through The Rattle Bag anthology edited by Heaney and Hughes. It's... less eclectic than I would like, but as someone that hasn't really read a lot of poetry it has introduced me to some people I want to read more of. But of what i have read in that anthology of: Miroslav Holub Vasko Popa Susanne Knowles (born 1911, I can't find anything else she published other than whats in the anthology...) Hyam Plutzik but not really I've enjoyed. I haven't read all that much of these other peeps but I've really liked what I've read: Etheridge Knight Gwendolyn Brooks idk how those stack up to who you like because like i said i don't read a lot of poetry so maybe these are schlub picks
i love anthologies so i'll definitely be picking this one up, thank you! i checked out a couple poems from etheridge knight and gwendolyn brooks and both caught my eye, especially brooks. time to dig some more!
AE Housman
read a few of his poems before bed last night and quite enjoyed them, thank you!
Nikiforos Vrettakos Greek communist guerilla turned national poet laureate of peace, beauty, and love. Some exquisite poems.