Best poetry anthologies according to redditors
We found 275 Reddit comments discussing the best poetry anthologies. We ranked the 134 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 275 Reddit comments discussing the best poetry anthologies. We ranked the 134 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Here it is, yo:
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Death-Poems-Written-Monks/dp/0804831793
It's available on Amazon!
Pain by The Authors of Pain: The debut poetry collection from WWE tag team and literary powerhouse The Authors of Pain.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074SFN64R/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ykaZAbGJNERA0
https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R
Full Story - I thought it was really ridiculous that there's a tag team called "The Authors of Pain" and they've never actually written a book called Pain, so I got a bunch of my friends together to write it for them. Originally it was just a digital book, but you guys really dug it so I formatted it for paperback and it's now available on Amazon for $4.
https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R
You can still download a free pdf of it at http://supercolliderpress.com/
It's a book of bad poetry from the perspective of Akam and Rezar and with a foreword by Paul Ellering. This thing took several months to put together and I could not be more proud of this. Former WWE writer Matt McCarthy, the head writer of Kayfabe News, the creator of Botched Spot and RD Reynolds of Wrestlecrap.com and a bunch of other really funny writers even contributed pieces. Now it's a literal, physical book which is insane to me.
Edit: Regarding all of the comments about the legality of this, I have a few friends that are parody book publishers that I talked this over with. I'm certainly in a legal grey area, but I doubt this thing is going to set the world on fire sales wise and it's available as a free download at the previously posted Supercollider Press page so I'm definitely not trying to get rich off of it. I mainly created the paperback because a bunch of people in the old thread asked for copies. If I'm asked to take it down, I will but until then I'm not super worried about it. Regardless, the heads up is appreciated.
I made a list based on where you can purchase them if you want to edit it onto your post:
This Month's Book
January:
by Iain Banks]
(https://www.amazon.com/Consider-Phlebas-Culture-Iain-Banks/dp/031600538X)
by Aldous Huxley]
(https://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Aldous-Huxley/dp/0060850523)
by Ray Bradbury
by Oscar Wilde
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
by Jordan B. Peterson]
(https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/B0797Y87JC)
February:
by Richard Matheson
by Frank Herbert
by Haruki Murakami
by Bret Easton Ellis
by Max Tegmark
by Friedrich Nietzsche
March:
by Ernest Hemingway
by Herman Melville
April:
(https://www.amazon.com/Dice-Man-Luke-Rhinehart/dp/0879518642)
https://www.amazon.com/Stoner-York-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590171993)
(https://www.amazon.com/Crime-Punishment-Fyodor-Dostoyevsky/dp/0486415872)
https://www.amazon.com/No-Longer-Human-Osamu-Dazai/dp/0811204812)
May:
https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Snow-Sea-Fertility-1/dp/0679722416)
(https://www.amazon.com/Runaway-Horses-Sea-Fertility-2/dp/0679722408)
November
Books Pewds suggested but hasn't talked about in any of the episodes yet:
linking pewds to see this u/pewpewpewPEWdie
Hey VA. Awesome question. In my opinion, the best thing you can do to improve your writing is read voraciously. A lot of people say, read "hard" books above your ability, but I think truly hard reading is reading stuff outside the bounds of what you normally read. For instance, if you love SF/Fantasy novels, read some literary fiction. If you're into pulp romance novels, read some fan fiction.
It also helps to think about what you mean by improved writing, because a lot of the most beautiful, exquisite novels don't do well commercially with a few rare exceptions, like Thomas Pynchon. Gravity's Rainbow is notorious for being almost unreadable; a Dostoyevsky novel is considered some of the most elite literature in the world, yet to me, it's unreadable. I feel the same way about Tolkein's books. Tolkein was writing to document his languages. He was a very 'correct' English writer, but stylistically I find him very dull.
Immediate writers who can craft a vivid world and story are my favorite. Kurt Vonnegut, Chuck Palahniuk, Tom Robbins are all great novelists with a very specific style. You gotta just devour writing of all kinds.
I also find that reading and writing poetry has crafted my understanding of precise, sexy word choice and pacing tremendously. Check out The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. A lot of these poems are from the beat generation era writers, who struggled with exactly what you're talking about, growing up in that 1950's mentality which was very repressive.
Finally, you have your own lifestyle. The best writing tends to be the most honest and direct experience of the writer. Consider what a personal revolution would be to you, what you intensely love, the things you wish for but are afraid to do. Honestly, if you want to approach the highest level of writing, go do some of those things. Or at least fantasize about doing them in your writing. A great example is Samuel R. Delany - he is a very gay, african american writer who grew up repressed by society from every side, but he also had a really wild sex life, and he was able to use those details in his writing. It isn't smut, but he knows smut. It isn't racist, or the kind of bitter, woe-is-me writing that a lot of minorities or subcultures can't escape - but it's informed by that narrative, as well as the counter-narrative of affluent white people who don't even think in those terms. So reading a Delany novel (most of which are Sci Fi novels) is an intense experience. I get so much value from those books, because he's taken the time to really go into these issues that, being gay and black, he can't ignore. If you can start thinking in these terms, you can start making literature on a really high level. It doesn't matter how exquisite your vocabulary is, or how complex your plot structures are - it just matters how you see and interact with the world, your world, and how immersively you can bring us into that world.
Books Felix reviewed:
The Master and Margarita
Rating 5/5
Video https://youtu.be/OoRlp3--ckU?t=56
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Master-Margarita-Mikhail-Bulgakov-ebook/dp/B01DC7OGSO/
Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death
Rating 4/5
Video https://youtu.be/OoRlp3--ckU?t=263
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Death-Poems-Written-Monks-ebook/dp/B00R1W9PEW
Don Quixote
Rating 5/5
Video https://youtu.be/OoRlp3--ckU?t=623
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Quixote-Penguin-Classics-Cervantes-Saavedra-ebook/dp/B002RI99J6
The reviews on the Amazon page.
This is the link with the good reviews and still free, same book but without illustrations and seems like it has a proper index whee you can jump to the poems you want to read.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004UJJJQS/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1482341350&sr=8-3&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=edgar+allan+poe+kindle
This book is heavy, so it doubles as a brick for smashing in the windows of capitalist bourgeois pigs. Reading it is like taking a shot of tabasco sauce and injecting it into your eye with a hypodermic needle.
I had to buy this one on ebay, but it's a damn fine collection. Makes me want to hand out LSD-laced lollypops to schoolkids, then piss on the grave of H.W. Longfellow.
These two have all the good ones of the 20th century, a clean layout, and a fine selection. Good for reading beneath a tree in the autumn, in a graveyard.
It's edited by Rita Dove, so you know this collection has good taste. The poems are from a wide spread of poetry movements, but personally, I find a lot of the pieces in it to be a little too 'delicate'. But very good for reading naked in bed, while softly stroking the hair of your sleeping lover.
Got all the biggies like Byron, Shelly and Keats. I fuckin love Keats. This book is a great introduction to 19th century poetry. This is good for reading on a bus while driving past a field of flowers on a humid summer evening with the windows open, reminiscing about your high school crush.
Clearly, you haven't read their book.
I think all the actual suggestions I made in this post would apply here (disregard that it's about buying a poetry gift, you're the 'they' or 'she' in this haha) so I'll paste it in and make a few additional suggestions. But #1 suggestion is to read through Poetry 180 and when you find pieces you like to search those poets in google or at poetryfoundation.com (they also have a great browse function where you can search by theme, 'school', poet, subject, occasion etc)
​
There's certainly a wide variety of options, the best options are mostly more poetry to read. All good poets read lots of poetry. I mean, sure, there's probably 3 or 4 out there that don't, but outliers aside, poets read poetry. So there's a couple options, if she only started writing a couple years ago, I would suggest a workshop type text book and a subscription to a nice literary journal like American Poetry Review, Rattle, Ploughshares, Iowa Review, Georgia Review, Arts & Letters, Five Points, Gettysburg Review, Paris Review etc. Depending on the type of poets she likes, different magazines would be better.
One good tact would be to ask them for a few of their favorite poets, maybe say you're thinking about reading more poetry or something, or just ask. Do a google search for their name and "literary journal" or "literary review". If you see that name in any of the above journals I mentioned, get her that subscription. If not, consider getting her one of their collections from Amazon. For anthologies, which are great for young poets especially, because it can help introduce a reader to many similar or dissimilar voices to broaden their reading horizons, and also some of the books I'll be recommending have a strong prompt/craft component to help them continue to develop. I especially recommend the bolded titles, and Seriously Funny, while good, may be a bit complicated for a newish reader of poetry. But I could be misreading what you mean by poetry career and they could be plenty comfortable with it.
Here are a couple that are good options:
Seriously Funny is a great anthology themed after poems that bring wit to serious topics. It's edited by husband/wife poetry duo David Kirby and Barbara Hamby.
Staying Alive has a great variety of poems organized by theme. These are mostly poems published in the last 50ish years, and lean slightly toward being more accessible (easy to understand) than the first anthology.
Contemporary American Poetry: Behind the Scenes was edited by Ryan G. Van Cleave and is more of a textbook (like the next 2). It has a CD with audio recordings of many of the poets in the book and it is broken up by poet, mostly chronologically I believe. It has some craft essays as well. Being a textbook, new copies are expensive, but used are cheap cheap.
The Poet's Companion is edited by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux, both tremendous poets in their own right. This one is more oriented in using poems to spark your own writing, but it does have a good amount of poetry in there, and the craft essays are brief and to the point.
In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet's Portable Workshop edited by Steve Kowit is also a great textbook for producing your own writing by looking at certain aspects of other poems. Stylistically this is similar to The Poet's Companion, and both are tremendous. Used they're each only $6 with shipping too.
Or, here are a few books that you can't go wrong with: Rose by Li-Young Lee, Tell Me by Kim Addonizio, Rail by Kai Carlson-Wee, The House of Blue Light by David Kirby, American Noise by Campbell McGrath, The Gary Snyder Reader—a huge book, but great, Some Ether by Nick Flynn
​
If you find a few more specific poets you like and want to find more of feel free to message me, and if I'm familiar with them I'll shoot you some more suggestions. A couple other poets who get personal and focus on minutiae/details etc would be like Albert Goldbarth, Billy Collins, Stephen Dunn, Matthew Neinow, Nick Latz, Gaylord Brewer, Ted Kooser, Philip Levine and, a couple that do similar with a definitely stylistic approach would be like Bob Hicok, Dean Young, Alex Lemon and Emma Bolden. For other lyrics/audio you may enjoy Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, Ani DiFranco, Utah Phillips, Sage Francis, Aesop Rock, Atmosphere/Slug, Josh Martinez...
Best of luck on your journey!
Wow, people really have had bad exposure to haikus based on these comments. 5-7-5, or what have you (there are a few different forms in Japanese), just doesn't work for the English language, so generally is discarded when writing or translating into English. Traditionally they related to nature in some way, but not exclusively. The point is to make a very short poem that is evocative of some sort of emotion, scene, or sensation. Non-haiku poetry often has the same goal, but without any restrictions on length, and it may use other devices like meter, rhyme, etc. The haiku masters were really good; some of these little poems can really take you to another place with just a few words. It's like the distilled essence of poetry. I'd highly recommend picking up a book of them, I bought this one a while back, his translations are really good.
Edit: Found some decent translations of some of Buson's poems here too. He was always my favorite.
If you really have no idea where to start, anthologies can easily become your best friend. There are many, many out there, but the idea is that you will have a large selection of stories by different authors who can give you quick exposure to different styles, themes, techniques, etc. Then, when you find an author you enjoy / want to learn more from, you can go looking for them. This will also let you dive into different genres quickly and give you starting points. As for what genres: read everything. And I don't mean everything as in "Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, etc etc" - I mean read fiction (both short stories and novels), essays, and poetry. Even if you have no interest in writing poetry, for example, it can teach you more about how language sounds and how it can affect speed of reading than many pieces of fiction can ever hope to do.
As to how to read: read carefully and closely. Don't rush through it. You're not necessarily reading for pleasure any more (though you still can - consider reading stuff that really hits you twice or more). How does the story arc go? How does the author create a sense of each character? How does his sentences make you read faster or slower? What details doesn't he say? See how the story works as a whole, and on a sentence by sentence level. (This is assuming fiction - reading poetry means focusing on line breaks, imagery, the sound of language, how do the line breaks affect how fast the eye reads.) It takes a lot of work, but it gets easier the more you do it.
A few suggestions:
Fiction:
You could try the "Best American Short Stories" series that is put out every year. It will give you a good thirty or so stories that are considered exceptional from small print journals from the corresponding year. I've found a lot of amazing writers in them. I also suggest The Best American Short Stories of the Century. I also recommend listening to the New Yorker Fiction Podcast as a way to find new authors - when you find a story you enjoy, track down the written version and tear it apart, and certainly read other works by the same author.
Essays:
Again, a nice easy lead in that I've found is the "Best American Essays" series. Same as before: each year, some thirty or so essays from small journals from that year. Maybe not the most wide-ranging sample, as it focuses on American writing, but there is always a surprising breadth of voices and subject matter in them. There are also a ton of essay anthologies, but I haven't gone through any of them completely enough to make a suggestion.
Poetry:
If you have a decent amount of money to throw away, I'd recommend the Norton Anthology set on modern and contemporary poetry. Volume 1 focus on modernism, and Volume 2 focus on contemporary. They have such a huge collection of different poets that there is something in there for everyone, and can set you off chasing down other poets easily. If you are also rolling in money, you might like Strong Measures, which examines a wide swath of formal poetry, but probably doesn't have much use outside of poets wanting to learn about specific forms. Otherwise, there's The Poetry Foundation where you can listen to a monthly podcast that might turn you on to some different poets, as well as a huge resource of free poetry and essays about poetry.
This may be something you would enjoy. It's a book of 100 famous poems.
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Loved-Poems-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486285537
One of my favorites is a haiku by the poet Kiba, who died in 1868 at the age of ninety.
In Japanese:
Oi no mi ya
hazue no omoru
tsuyu no tama
An english translation:
My old body:
a drop of dew grown
heavy at the leaf tip.
I got this from Hoffman's compilation of jisei called Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death.
There's the Giant Book of Poetry which is over 700 pages and basically spans all of written history (from years BC to poets born in the 1980's). There's bound to be something you like in there.
There's also The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry (vintage here refers to the publisher, in case you were thinking "vintage" and "contemporary" were contradictory lol). This book has a wide variety of poets that might be lesser known since they aren't American, but still includes some well loved poets including Pablo Neruda and Seamus Heaney. This is a great one too.
I've recommended this a few times on here but there is also the Best American Poetry Series. It comes out every year. Basically, a prominent poet is chosen as the editor each year and they choose the best (totally subjective, but still) poems that were published in literary magazines that year. While it's limited to American poets, it provides a huge variety of poets both established and emerging. Also, it comes out every year, so that's pretty awesome too. The most recent one is Best American Poetry 2013 whish was edited by one of my favorite poets, Denise Duhamel. Totally recommend it. Good luck, hope this was helpful!
Did anyone read this book by The Authors of Pain yet. Free on kindle unlimited and worth it!
https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse/dp/1549612603/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511059335&sr=8-1&keywords=authors+of+pain
I'm pretty sure there's a collection of the pics you mention in The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. It's amazing to see.
I like Staying Alive by Niel Astley
This is a great question! I'm going to follow all of the recommendations as well, since we recite poetry to our baby. It started out because we were doing it when he was still too little to sit up and be read a book at bed time. Now he loves books so much they work him up at bed time and I still enjoy the poetry side of things as I feel like I've expanded my knowledge at the same time!
I was actually going to just get a spiral book bound with our nighttime favourites, but I'd love to find an illustrated version for later on.
We have this book: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Loved-Poems-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486285537 and we read him anything from Shakespeare to Robert frost. His personal favourite is jabberwocky though :)
I mean, you really need to be reading anthologies to get a basis of the poetic tradition and then move on to individual books. While individual books of poetry help you get a sense of each writer, getting a taste of many poets throughout many periods is the only way to really become well versed (pun-intended). Also, part of the way to learn how to read poetry more critically is learn how to write poetry, or at least what goes into writing poetry. And my personal advice is to purposefully read poetry that is hard for you to grasp or find interest in, whether that be due to understanding or content (e.g. Yeats and his faeries don’t interest me in the slightest).
Theory/Reading Critically:
American:
Other:
Source: Have a Master’s Degree in poetry and currently working on my MFA. My expertise is in 20th & 21st Century American Poetry, particularly post-War/post-45.
Read a couple of these from different years and check back.
Nicely done. Puts me in mind of a book of Japanese death-poems, which was largely haiku based. (Link for those who wish: http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Death-Poems-Written-Monks/dp/0804831793/)
One of my favorite poetry books is "A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry," edited by Czeslaw Milosz. The poems aren't difficult to understand yet are diverse and really wonderful. https://www.amazon.com/Book-Luminous-Things-International-Anthology/dp/0156005743/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=A+Book+of+Luminous+Things&qid=1565830406&s=gateway&sr=8-1
The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry
I would give this a read if the opportunity presents. Some of the works contain harsh language but the quality is undeniable. My 12th LA teacher introduced me to this book years ago and I still give it a go-through now.
I would suggest one of Neil Astley's anthologies. Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times was the first, and he's since also put out 'Being Alive' and 'Being Human'. It's all contemporary, thoughtful poetry, some of it similar to the one you posted above, but there's lots of variety.
If you don't mind a mixture of poetry from different styles and eras, I really love Poem for the Day (Poem A Day in the US, apparently).
Also, if you wanted to look into individual poets, I think you might like Richard Siken, Warsan Shire, or Andrea Gibson. I'm happy to dig out some examples of their work online for you, if it would help!
Check out some poetry anthologies. Something like "American Hybrid" could be a good place to start.
http://www.amazon.com/American-Hybrid-Norton-Anthology-Poetry/dp/0393333752
or The Seagull Reader Poems
http://www.amazon.com/Seagull-Reader-Poems-Second/dp/0393930939/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252962506&sr=1-1
Definitely work on creating concrete images in your poetry. Pulling in sensory descriptions (touch, taste, sight, sound and smell) will help your readers better visualize and connect to your thoughts.
For poetry anthologies, I really enjoyed Staying Alive
I would also recommend visiting The American Academy of Poets and Poetry Foundation for free poetry online from classic poets.
As for poets to read, there are many out there so if you don't like the poets suggested in these comments just remember there are so many more. I personally love Pablo Neruda, Anna Akhmatova, Sylvia Plath, Mary Oliver, Wallace Stevens, H.D., Rainer Maria Rilke and too many more to list.
For a new poet, I highly recommend the Norton Anthology of Contemporary Poetry. It will not only give you a wide array of poets and poetry styles, but will help teach you how to analyze.
You might want to look into Robert Hass's translations of haiku by Basho, Buson, and Issa.
you're likely to get a zillion answers. poetry is such a wild and broad field, with many disparate subsets. And the difficulty in your question is that if i answer with The BreakBeat Poets or War Poems, where I find several valuable poems in each, you would invariably find them drastically more or less valuable to you.
I've read a couple handfuls of anthologies, and my lesson learned is that ... it kinda doesn't matter. liking poetry is a numbers game for me - if i want to add more poetry to the list of poems i like, I've got to read about a hundred more poems.
it doesn't quite matter the author, or era - though i do have to say i'm starting to figure out where/when more of the poetry i like tends to come from.
I highly suggest 2 things - any used book-store is going to have a dusty, not-often-shopped pair of shelves called poetry, in which you'll be able to find some classics, and some anthologies, for a few dollars each. super cheap, generally. Then, take the bulk of your budget to a new book-store and shop that section for a specific style/author/genre that you think might kin with him.
There are tons of anthologies these days centered around all sorts of lives and lifestyles. urban living, country living, black, Hispanic, old, young, hobo/travelers, gay, spiritual, ... all the sorts.
Regardless, good luck, have fun.
https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R
Funny story, I helped my high school English teacher type out and format his book on Slam Poetry. I met poets like George David Miller and Roger Bonair-Agard. The book is this one but it seems like he has a second edition out (called Redux).
Unfortunately, I dont recall any names. They were all a part of this volume, however. http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Death-Poems-Written-Monks/dp/0804831793/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415892669&sr=8-1&keywords=japanese+death+poems
u/Just_Joey released the PDF for free (and the audiobook narrated by Colt Cabana) and a hardcopy on Amazon for $4.
https://soundcloud.com/user-857414650/pain-by-the-authors-of-pain-narrated-by-colt-cabana
http://supercolliderpress.com/ (free PDF)
https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R
Get yourself a good anthology, like this one edited by the Polish poet Czesław Miłosz. Once you know what you like you can get more specific anthologies or collections by specific poets.
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
amazon.com.au
amazon.in
amazon.com.mx
amazon.de
amazon.it
amazon.es
amazon.com.br
amazon.nl
amazon.co.jp
amazon.fr
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Do I have a book suggestion for you: https://www.amazon.com/BreakBeat-Poets-American-Poetry-Hip-Hop/dp/1608463958
One can choose to write haiku with 5-7-5 syllables, but it's not at all necessary, and quite liberating to find out what words can do with less.
Hard to pick favorites, so I'll give out some of the standard issue ones from my times.
Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" is one that students tend to love, especially if you're doing a good bit about Gothicism. Any Poe short story or poem. On the longer side, "Winter Dreams" by Fitzgerald, that's a very American story though, at least as I've always taught it. For straight poetry, most of Langston Hughes work has great imagery and does well explaining the mechanics of poetry. A book I picked up in college, which this seems to be the current version of has served me very well. Pretty much every poem in there can be given a one day or full week treatment. And, if it isn't in there, Ozymandius by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Rambly list complete!
The Giant Book of Poetry has everything from 4000BC through Shakespeare up to contemporary stuff; it's a great starting point. And, unlike a lot of poetry anthologies, it's only $15.
Furthermore, he put together a wonderful anthology of poems entitled A Book of Luminous Things, which can be found here.
Hey, they really are great authors.
What? You haven’t read this? https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R/ref=nodl_
If you want modern American Poerty I HIGHLY recommend this [book] (http://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Bible-American-Poetry/dp/1560252278).
It covers so many of the best poems by many of the famous Contemporary Beat Poets. As well as incredible lesser known beat's like DA Levy, and Bob Wallace. Some of my favorites, are Richard Brautigan, Bukowski, Jack Micheline, Ray Bremser, Neal Cassady. There is even, an incredible poem by Jackson Pollock.
The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry is one of my favorites.
Item.
Thin crust pizza.
Thank you.
I've run a certain Haiku exercise with great success. You may need to alter the exercise to make it more accessible for your non-native speakers, but maybe you can find a way to make some or all of it work:
Start with a brief, accessible description of Haikai no Renga. Have the students pass a piece of paper around and create their own version that captures the spirit of the exercise.
Next, give a brief history on Basho and the way he morphed Linked Verse into Haiku. Go over the subtle intricacies of traditional Haiku, everything beyond the simple syllabic rules--cutting (kiru), seasonal references (kigo), etc. Have the students create their own classical haikus.
Finally, using Haiku as a base, give the students some insight into the incredible formative power of translation. The introduction to Hass' Essential Haiku is a goldmine of eloquent insight.
A highly effective professor once had my class read different translations of Rilke's [Archiac Torso of Apollo] (https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/archaic-torso-apollo) and discuss the differences, something else you might want to try.
Good luck, hope this suggestion helps!
I have two anthologies you may enjoy: The Outlaw Bible of America Poetry, and New American Underground Poetry, Volume 1.
I don't really read poetry, in fact I only own one poetry book but it's by far the best I've ever read. Japanese death poems. In Japan there was a tradition among Samurai and Haiku poets to write a Haiku poem on their death bed. Some are poignant, some are even funny here's a few of my favourites.
Kashiku
Mount Fuji's meling snow
is the ink
with which I sign
my life's scroll,
"Yours sincerely."
-------------
Moriya Sen'an
Bury me when I die
beneath a wine barrel
in a tavern.
With luck
the cask will leak.
-------------
Dairin Soto
My whole life long I've sharpened my sword
And now, face to face with death
I unsheathe it, and lo-
The blade is broken-
Alas!
To fully understand them you need to read the introduction which takes up about a third of the book and is very interesting in itself. Highly recommended.
They can discuss this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R
Oh! I just snorted out loud. Didn't realize that was your poem. So, you should check out a book called The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. That big book will show a beginner poet all the different things a poem can be.
Your "Graceful" poem struck me as creative and thought-provoking because it was sharp and... imagistic. The "Imaginary" poem struck me as a quick outline for something else because the images were lacking. Nonexistent. It had a lot of undeveloped ideas.
You know... the old telling vs. showing cliche? I need something to explode in this poem. I want something to burn the flesh off my hands. I want to taste your passion.
(Aside: Be sure to write for you, not for the upvotes.)
Anyway, I felt the need to comment again because I hadn't realized you were the same poet. Cheers!
The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology
This is my favorite poetry anthology.
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He's actually featured in The Spoken Word Revolution. But yes, he's at a level we all aspire to get to.
If you believe your words are gospel, then just accept the feedback and move on with your life. If you want to start down the road of legitimately writing poetry that someone who actually reads poetry can appreciate, it's time to get to fucking work.
Of course, you think your "words" are special, but they aren't. This is the same thing every beginner churns out. It's cliché abstraction and it's not worth sharing with anyone. You can call it "poetry" and say it's your "art" and that poetry can't be "defined" -- whatever.
But anyone who actually reads poetry will recognize your "words" immediately for what they are and turn the page.
Read some poetry, man. Read some books about writing poetry and the tools poets use to craft their poems. If you need recommendations, I can give you some, but you'll have to do some fucking work. You might have missed the memo, but writing poetry is hard work.
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Edit: Here some recommendations to get you started.
And if you insist on trying to use end rhymes:
And please, please pick up a good book of poems from multiple authors so you can get some exposure, such as the Norton Anthology of Poetry or the compilation Good Poems by Garrison Keillor. One of my favorites is A Book of Luminous Things by Czeslaw Milosz.
I'm not sure if it has 100+, but my favorite collected anthology, by far, is The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart. The subtitle can go fuck itself, but the collection itself is unbeatable. So, so good. Really, this book showed me so much of what poetry can be. I really enjoy that it doesn't focus on one era so much over others, contemporary poetry is well-represented, and this all shows in the organization of poems. Pound right next to Olds right next to Li Po. Brilliant.
If I can get over the subtitle, I feel like anyone should be able to. Check it out!
Unanswerable Questions contains a series of poems that dive into some of the most important and most neglected questions we can ask ourselves: What is compassion? How do we show it? Who am I? What is real? What is true? What does it mean to be present? You will find that these poems speak to your soul. They are the words that we all hear deep within, if only we should listen. This book is your chance to pay attention. Inviting you in to your existence, these poems are the siren of your Being. Answer her call. She awaits your opening.
eBook: $2.99 (or free with Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback: $9.99
link to Unanswerable Questions
https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R
Because there are literally the authors of pain
For those that don't know about it, here is the Book of Pain by the AOP:
https://smile.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523325569&sr=1-1&keywords=Authors+of+Pain
I think you would really like this book:
http://www.amazon.com/American-Hybrid-Norton-Anthology-Poetry/dp/0393333752/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1301495281&sr=8-2-fkmr2
It traces the movement of what they call "Hybrid Poetry," (essentially, experimental poetry with formal characteristics) in the 20th Century. Good introductory essays by the authors as well. I'm less swayed by your type of poetry than more conventional forms... but that's something I'm working on.
Ah, yes. The perpetual tragedy of Men's social awareness movements.
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Late 80's a group of psychologists and writers attempted to address the issues affecting men's psychology and identity in a changing world and society and called it the "Men's Movement." [Suggested Reading](https://smile.amazon.com/Rag-Bone-Shop-Heart-Anthology/dp/0060924209/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550604390&sr=8-1&keywords=rag+and+bone+shop+of+the+heart) When it makes overtures to try and ally itself with feminist groups they are largely rebuked under suspicion and lose just enough interest by it's founders that it gets taken over by a group of horrible misogynists before slowly sputtering out of steam.
​
Late 90's a group of well meaning men looking to address heavy handed policies in the justice system start the men's rights movement so they can spend more time with their kids, before being rebuked by feminist groups and losing all of the reasonable voices inside of itself by the loud bellow of horrible misogynists. This one just sure is taking it's fucking time dying.
There's a kickass compendium of outlaw American poesy, I wonder if there's something similar for Europe/other places as an introduction to more poets.
Funny you say that...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074SFN64R/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_8J-MDb8K3ASNW
The Spoken Word Revolution. https://www.amazon.com/Spoken-Word-Revolution-Generation-Experience/dp/1402202466
It has a little bit of everything. Enjoy the adventure.
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Loved-Poems-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486285537/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1451260212&sr=8-5&keywords=classic+poetry can't beat the price.
Probably look for anthologies, such as 101 Great American Poems, or the Giant Book of Poetry.
Staying alive: real poems for unreal times is a good anthology of modern poems, edited by Neil Astley. it covers all areas of human experience edited into thematic chapters allowing for comparison of perspectives in subjects the that you wish to explore.
cant recommend it highly enough.
edit; Amazon link
Nimenoz, nice first attempt. You should read this if you're interested in the historical basis for haiku and why certain elements are included and other elements not included in traditional haiku. I guarantee your haiku writing will improve dramatically in a small amount of time.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Essential-Haiku-Versions-Basho/dp/0880013516
Here's a sneak peak: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/haas/haiku.htm
All of the books you've mentioned would have to be read in translation which rather defeats the purpose of reading poetry.
If you really want to read a book that is a poem, I would suggest [Love, Dishonor, Marry, Cherish, Perish] (http://www.amazon.com/Love-Dishonor-Marry-Cherish-Perish/dp/038553521X), a contemporary novel written entirely in Iambic Pentameter. It's sad, funny, tender and very entertaining and it's a great book.
I would also urge you to consider reading some straight-up poetry because it's beautiful and because there is so much good poetry out there both contemporary and older.
You could start with something like the Dover Thrift Poetry Anthology which is slim and inexpensive and offers a good selection of English Language poetry up until the early 1900s. Or you could look at some more contemporary stuff which is great and I'd be happy to suggest something to you along those lines if you were interested.
Happy happy cake day! And thanks for this contest! I had a lot of fun doing this!
20.It's cheap and it smells like heaven!
Get a book of poetry and leave it within reach of the can. You never know when you'll need it, and nothing relaxes the bowels like some Coleridge or Yeats.
http://www.amazon.com/Staying-Alive-Poems-Unreal-Times/dp/1401359264
Staying Alive is a great anthology of poems and it has a bit of everything.
Just finished Motorcycle diaries, 4/5*
Currently reading Japanese Death Poems and Maze Runner.
Thank you, I used to be able to write a lot better but it's faded with time. It's like I'm on a steam ship, first I burned the coal, then the furniture and now there's nothing left to burn.
This is my favorite poetry book, it gives an excellent history of haiku Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death I always have two copies of it, one to read and give away to someone that I think might like it and a second as a backup.
Staring off into
the distance I find myself
in this waking dream.
I love the 'Staying Alive' anthology http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1852245883/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
It has a lot of contributors and is in sections of different aspects of life. Has a little bit of every style from lots of different time periods. Great way to stumble upon a poet you haven't read before and then go in search of their other stuff! I was worries when I got this as a gift that it would be all very wishy washy 'carry on through difficult times' but it is honestly a great collection :)