Young Writers Society

I always think that the suggestion, "to write good poetry, one needs to read good poetry" is pretty valid advice - I don't have a lot of folks in real life that I'd ask for poetry book recommendations, mostly because not a lot of my friends read poetry in the first place - so what are y'all reading out there?

Any favorite poetry books? Do you like the classics or more modern ones?

Feel free to add your recommendations to this thread of poetry books / collections / poets that you think are worth reading for your fellow poets out there.

Empty bottles full of stories. Robert m. drake and r.h.sin

I have sadly not picked up a poetry book in a while, but I keep hearing good things about Anne Carson, and I'm planning to eventually read her translation of fragments of Sappho, titled If Not, Winter, which looks very good.

Thanks for adding to the thread!

@paperforest I read and studied some of Sappho's poetry fragments in my Greek class last year - we read a lot of Greek poetry, so Anne Carson's book is definitely on my list to read too.

Poets I like to read are Robert Frost, Don Marquis, Pablo Neruda, Mary Oliver, & Madeleine L'Engle.

More modern poetry books I've enjoyed are "Blood Eagle" by Adam Crittenden and "Housefire Ellegies" by Keith Montesano - both I'd describe as tense, ominous, raw, and at times uncomfortable.

Also recently read all of "milk and honey" by rupi kaur and I thought it was a quick read, but enjoyable.

when I was a bit younger I read Dr. Seuss's Terrific Tales, that was full of riming things like poetry. But then there was another one that I cannot even remember and at the same time I don't think we have it any more.

I liked the concept of the poetry pharmacy ( https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/ ... y-pharmacy )

The author prescribes appropriate poems from various poets for mental "ailments" and conditions like anger, depression etc.
Easy to read too.
I'm reading pale fire and idk whether it's a poetry book but pretty good nonetheless.
Has anyone read Song of Myself?

I really like Arabic poetry. "Mahmoud Darwish" is a great writer

I recommend The Lost Arabs, which is written by a former YWS GM (@Jiggity)!

Oh thanks for the new recs!!

Heres one more "Borderland Apocrypha" by Anthony Cody is really excellent - the text is formatted like a single line and then poems coming off the words from that line; the formatting is just so creative and satisfying to read. The content is also very though-provoking and centers around issues of immigration, racism, occupation, violence ... it explores historical subjects and communities but also succeeds in feeling personal. If you want to read some non-linear gritty poetry definitely check it out. I think a couple of his poems may also be available online. Might be a little mature + violent for some readers, so read with caution.

I'm working through poetic meter and poetic form by Paul fussell, I believe what it teaches is essential to reading poetry which is essential to writing it.

Favorite is bucolics by Maurice Manning
currently reading your emergency contact had experienced an emergency, time is a mother, and alive at the end of the world.

- anything ee cummings
- devotions, mary oliver
- the anatomy of being, shinji moon (changed my LIFE, some of the most beautiful imagery to ever exist)
- crush, richard siken (quite literally taught me how to be a poet)
- anything by robert frost
- love her wild, atticus (I'm not the BIGGEST fan of "tumblr" poetry, but this book is excellent)
- ANYTHING by Gibran, but especially the Prophet (honestly, consider him to be one of the most prolific writers of all time)

Some of my favorite poetry books as of late include Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong, Devotions by Mary Oliver (seconding the rec from @LadySpark), Citizen by Claudia Rankine, and Bright Dead Things by Ada Limon. Also, I believe Ocean Vuong has recently released another collection, which I'm excited to get around to reading hopefully sometime soon!

I just finished reading the poetry collection by Sophie Diener called Someone, Somewhere, Maybe.

I love the collection entitled Honeybee, by Naomi Shihab Nye.


Both are really great!

war of the foxes ~ richard siken
teaching my mother how to give birth ~ warsan shire
love is a dog from hell ~ charles bukowski