Reddit reviews The Book of Medicines

First figure out what style of poetry you like. Do this by reading some sort of anthology. I would recommend Perrine's Sound & Sense, which can be on the expensive side depending on what edition you buy, but is probably the most useful book I've ever bought. It was required for one of my high school classes, but I can't count the number of times I've referred back to it since then or just sat down and reread it for the hell of it.

Two protips for reading poetry: (1) take a lot of time with each poem; read it more than once; consider the significance of all its elements, and (2) don't pause (mentally or out loud) at the end of a line unless there's punctuation there. Sorry if you think that's really basic advice; I'm just surprised at the number of people who don't know this. It improves comprehension a lot.

That said, the most recent poetry collections I've read and would recommend are Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets of Virginia, The Book of Medicines by Linda Hogan, Ideal Cities by Erica Meitner, and Ariel by Sylvia Plath. If you're looking for something less contemporary, John Donne is my favorite poet of all time.