(Part 4) Best american poetry books according to redditors

I'd give any of these to someone interested in poetry and wanting to get a good start.

Jill Alexander Essbaum: Harlot

Brian McGackin: Broetry

T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land and Other Poems (start with "Prufrock")

Sylvia Plath: Ariel (note: this is the "restored" edition--yes it is superior)

Anne Sexton: Transformations

Dante: The Divine Comedy (Durling & Martinez translation)

Anon: Beowulf (Heaney or Sullivan/Murphy translation)

Homer: Odyssey (Fagles translation)

Kim Addonizio: Tell Me

David Mason: Ludlow

Edna St. Vincent Millay: Collected Sonnets

Shakespeare: Collected Sonnets

Moira Egan and Clarinda Harriss (ed.): Hot Sonnets

Sounds Good, 101 Poems to be Heard

I'll go ahead and add the publisher's page for my book (which I absolutely would include as a good "beginning" book) but it won't be out until late January.

ENJOY!

*edit: I absolutely WOULD include my book as a beginner book--sorry for any confusion!

It kind of upsets me that Amazon never updated the image for the new cover I made a while back, but here it is:

The Human Condition: Spoken Word Poetry https://www.amazon.com/dp/1986773264/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_llm.BbDVZFQGB

Some more contemporary poets --

Carrie Fountain - Burn Lake

Lia Purpura - King Baby

Brian Turner - Here, Bullet

Ned Balbo - Galileo's Banquet

Edward Mullany - If I Falter at the Gallows

Kay Ryan - Say Uncle

Jane Satterfield - Shepherdess with an Automatic

These are a few collections that I enjoy and have been very influential to my writing.

As a side note, three of the collections -- Ned, Jane and Lia's -- were written by professors that I had at Loyola University. All three are smart poets and great teachers, who deserve to have their work read.

Enjoy the collections!

The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip-Hop - Saul Williams

Here you go!

this VERY VERY SAPPY COLLECTION OF POEMS...just in time for Valentine’s lol...I find comfort in poems

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.

Funny, I just finished my first last night: You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense. I have no real basis of comparison other than the 5 or 6 of his novels and short story compilations I've read. But I liked it a lot. And if you use a Kindle, it's on sale for $1.99 right now. Some other Buk stuff is too.

Love Poems

Gotta love getting digital. Get it. Because the link is love poems... I'm not a funny man.

In Order to Commit Suicide (Floating Wolf Quarterly Chapbooks)

I have to reccommend Diane Ackerman. She is a lovely poet who writes about the natural world. I don't love poetry myself but had read many of her ravel and nature writing non-fiction books and finally picked up one of her poetry books and loved them. I Praise my Destroyer is the first one I read and then I picked up her book titled Jaguar of Sweet Laughter. After you read these, you will porbably want to read her other books that are not poetry and if you do, I strongly suggest that you read The Moon by Whale Light. It is the breath taking book that I first read of hers that got me to travel to Ana Nuevo Island to see the elephant seal mating season.

For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.

A big rule for poetry is to use normal punctuation. You don't want to throw the reader off by arbitrarily doing away with all periods.

"The Leatherback," though--a prose-poem by Campbell McGrath--is this huuuuuuuuuuuge run-on sentence. Instead of breaking the lines, he just lets it go on and on and on. It's hard to read as a result, and also hard to read in an emotional sense. The lack of periods isn't a fault, of course, but reinforces the difficulty of the situation that McGrath depicts.

I looked for the poem online to share, but am unable to find it such that I can link right to it. Go to the Amazon listing, though, and Look Inside. Search for the word "sinewy" and it'll come up.

The Lost Zoo (A Rhyme for the Young. But Not Too Young)?

Hey guys!

I just published my first book of poetry. I think it turned out really cool. Thematic blurb below:

"Couples therapy sessions slowly morphed into solitary therapy sessions. My therapist kept coming back to the question of my passions, and where I was headed. I knew it was writing. So I wrote. I wrote my pain of loss. I wrote my confusion about the existential questions that plagued me as someone who grew up in the bible belt, but had a hard time swallowing the bigotry I saw. I wrote my struggle through heartbreak and single life. I wrote my triumphs in self-confidence, and ultimately I wrote a new love story, with a new person. Ultimately, it's not about meeting the right person; instead, it is about finding out that you are quite capable of loving yourself, and anyone else loving you is just a wonderful sprinkle on top."


Available here: Amazon
$9.78

I'm also doing special copies where I include a personalized poem, a typewritten copy of that poem, and a free download to my spoken word album for $12. DM me if you're interested.

The Titpon poetry Journal prints and publishes a quarterly collection of poetry. These poems are from international contributors, not only Indiana. My work was featured in the Issue #36 Winter 2018. Please verify your facts before criticising. Here's a few links as proof:

​

An online version of Issue #36 (Page 33) https://issuu.com/tiptonpoetryjournal/docs/tpj36

Here's an Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Tipton-Poetry-Journal-36-Winter/dp/1986242056

Here's the official Tipton Website: http://tiptonpoetryjournal.com/

​

Thanks.

Hey guys!

I’m the author of Euphoria, which is my debut poetry book. It has poems about self struggle, depression, happiness, and many more topics. It’s currently at $9.89, and it may stay at that price for a while. While the kindle book is $2.99. I would love for you guys to read it. I also run an Instagram, which I’ll link below.

Amazon // Instagram

Atticus poetry is my favorite. I really want one as a tattoo.

Autogenerated.

IamA Senior in college getting ready to graduate that just published my first book of poetry, Alone Together. AMA about the publishing process or questions about writing!

I wrote this book to explore the concepts of “alone” and “lonely” Throughout the past couple years, I have experienced the three chapters in this book: alone, Alone, and Alone Together. I also have realized that everyone is facing these exact same issues in their life, so this book was written as a way to let everyone know that they do not have to go through life alone.

Get your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1979968527/sr=8-1/qid=1522869329/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1522869329&sr=8-1

My Proof: https://twitter.com/aaronruth_ Here is my Twitter.


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