In celebration of National Poetry Month, the 32 Poems blog has been featuring the five favorite poetry books of a given poet, as listed by that poet. Each day of the month features a different poet's list. I've been finding these blog entries useful in extending my already massive to-read list.
I also began to wonder what 5 books of poetry would be on my list of favorites (not that anybody has ever asked me, but as we all know, I love a list), so I have compiled today's favorite 5. I say "today's" because the list is ever-evolving and so dependent on my mindset at the time of compilation.
Anyway, here it is:
Jessica's Five Favorite Books of Poetry (as of April 21, 2011), in no particular order:
1. Cole Swensen's The Book of a Hundred Hands: Poems
2. W. B. Keckler's Sanskrit of the Body
3. Stefi Weisburd's The Wind-up Gods
4. Corinne Lee's PYX
5. Chad Sweeney's Parable of Hide and Seek (and just about everything else I've read by Chad Sweeney)
6. Anne Michaels's The Weight of Oranges/Miner's Pond
7. Almost anything by Charles Wright, Anne Carson, and Jack Gilbert
Okay, it's not that I can't count to 5, it's that I can't stop listing great poetry. But I am stopping now. These titles came off the top of my head without even consulting my bookshelves. If I did that, I'm sure I'd have more more more. And I only added #7 because these are my tried-and-true favorite poets that I couldn't NOT include, but I really wanted to give the names of some poets you might not have heard of, so that's #1-6.
Please feel free to list your favorite 5 or so in the comments section below. I'd love to learn the names of some poets I don't already know.
Happy Poetry Month.
7 comments:
I just remembered Valerie Wohlfeld's Thinking the World Visible, one of my favorite books ever ever ever. How could I have left it off my list????
Allison Benis White's _Self Portrait With Crayon_; Jane Mead's _The Usable Field_; Jack Gilbert's _The Great Fires_; Brenda Hillman's _Death Tractates_; Malinda Markham's _Ninety-Five Nights of Listening_..... and many more, of course. Lists are like that: limited! : )
Yes, Mari, love Alison Benis White's book and Jack Gilbert's. Also have read and enjoyed Malinda Markham's. I will add the others to my to-read list!
I love lists, too.
My faves (today) are:
Ditch Tender by Julia B. Levine
Words Under the Words by Naomi Shihab Nye
The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson
What Narcissism Means to Me, by Tony Hoagland
The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich
The more I think, the more I think to add. :)
Thanks for posting, Drew. I don't know Julia B. Levine so I will look her up. The others are really great choices, especially the Anne Carson.
And Jessica, congratulations! Just spotted you in Poets & Writers magazine. What a great endorsement from Beloit. That's it, I'm buying your book RIGHT NOW.
The Beloit Poetry Journal has been truly supportive; I'm very grateful. I hope you enjoy the book.
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