10 Poetry Collections Every Writer Should Own
I can’t say that I’ve always been a fan of poetry or that I’ve understood most of what I’ve read. In English class whenever we’d study poetry it was always classic poetry and hundreds of years old. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I could never connect with it. I couldn’t see myself in the words. Some of these poets are favorites that I discovered whilst in high school and were an introduction to poetry that I felt a connection to or that inspired me. The past couple of years I have been introduced to a number of talented poets whose work I have been devouring and adding to my growing collection. As I read more, I find myself getting lost in the short snippets that poets use to express themselves or an experience and that fear of not understanding poetry diminishing.
Ariel by Sylvia Plath
Although published shortly after her death, Ariel very much brings to life Plath and oft-celebrated poetry. A departure from her earlier collection - Colossus, Ariel presents to readers a collection that examines Plath’s experience with depression, motherhood, and marriage. Within these poems written during her later life, the words we encounter are darker, heavier, almost menacing. Plath poured her emotions into these works and they remain a collection of some of her most honest and raw poems.
Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
Published in 1956 by City Lights, Howl and Other Poems features “Howl” and “A Supermarket in California,” two poems which are just as well known as the obscenity trial that followed the publication of this collection. A seminal text from the Beat Generation, Ginsberg’s collection is filled with mentions of sexulity and drugs that has become synonymous with that era of literature. A collection of poetry that breaks the rules and transports you to a time in history where experimentation was encouraged.
Life of the Party by Olivia Gatwood
A collection of poems that weaves together Gatwood’s own upbringing and coming of age with the violence that is inflicted on women in the world and the way our culture romanticizes it. These are poems that you’ll want to re-read and carry with you. She not only explores the violence we endure and how it shapes us, but how violence committed against WOC tends to go unnoticed or not shown the same level of attention as that of white women. Gatwood is not afraid to speak honestly about what it means to be a woman in this world and to reside within a body that the world thinks belongs to them.
Night Skies with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong
An incredibly moving collection of poetry that explores family, war, grief, and romance. Using the Vietnam War as its main subject, Vuong reckons with the fall of Saigon and the loss of family and homes because of the war. Taking inspiration from his own upbringing, Vuong comes face to face with feelings of displacement and the history of violence that shaped his early years.
Counting Descent by Clint Smith
An exploration of what it means and feels like to come of age in American in a black body. Caught between a community that celebrates black lives and a world that looks upon black bodies and lives as something to be feared and looked down on, Smith incorporates his own personal coming of age as well as political history.
Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
Described as an elegy for her father who worked on the Hubble telescope, Life on Mars examines human existence set in a science fiction future where any real danger has been erased. Smith explores David Bowie, grief, illness, and pop culture amongst other themes and makes connections to space and science fiction as a nod to her father.
How to Love the Empty Air by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
In How to Love the Empty Air, Aptowicz finds herself searching for happiness and a place to call home, a journey that takes her to several cities in America, struggling along the way. As her luck and life begin to change for the better, she is hit with the news of her mother’s passing. This devastating loss sees Aptowicz spend the next year grieving and trying to find her place in this new reality.
Look by Solmaz Sharif
Look forces the reader to confront the cost of war and its undeniable long lasting effect on human lives. In addition to heartbreaking poems, Sharif also employs lists and sequences to illustrate how she and her family have dealt with the aftermath of war and how even the wars and violence experienced years before echo into the present day. She not only explores how violence is utilized against our physical being, but also how it is used against our language - pulling words and phrases from the Department of DefenseDictionary of Military and Associated Terms to show how it is used to control and sterilize language.
Bright Dead Things by Ada Limon
In Bright Dead Things Limon writes poetry that traces her path from her move to Kentucky from New York City, losing a parent, aging, and falling in love. She examines what it means and feels like to inhabit a body in a world that we know we must eventually leave and all the different experiences and moments that make up our life.
Why I Wake Up Early by Mary Oliver
The poems included in this collection compel you to wake up early. They celebrate the small parts of life and nature and use them as reasons to wake early. There is a feeling of serenity and calmness that comes with rising early. Oliver observes our natural world and our everyday surroundings and utilizes what she sees in her poetry to commemorate all of the positives that come with waking up early and being out in nature.
