This is a relatively niche request. I’m pretty well-read in poetry, I think I’ve probably read most of the greats.
I’m in post-breakup-build-new-habits mode, and I’ve discovered that what I love to do is have a bourbon with a poet on Friday evenings and some Saturday mornings, so I’m looking for recommendations. I think poetry tends to pick up after the Beat era – I’m open to pre-Beat poets and think I’ve read all the beats (but prove me wrong) (and this includes Frank O’Hara). I sometimes struggle with poets in translation, but am open to them.
Poets I adore: Mary Ruefle, Bob Dylan, Louise Glück, Elizabeth Bishop, Marianne Moore, Charles Simic, Fred Seidel, Richard Siken, Tyhimba Jess, Vi Khi Nao.
Poets I loathe: Mary Oliver, Charles Bukowski, Rupi Kuar is actually fine for what she’s doing but now what I’m interested in at the moment, any celebrity poet.
Thanks!
by Colleen_Hoover
6 Comments
UK chap here: we have a punk poet, likely similar to those Beat chaps: John Cooper Clarke. He is a minor celeb here, and often appears with uk bands
You may want to scope out Schrecker’s *Insomnaics, We*. Some of his stuff reminds me of Simic. And now that I think of it, there’s some of that weird energy that Dylan had in a few of his songs, the ones where he’d go on those surrealist rants. Schrecker’s second collection *Post-Millennium Rhapsody* is worth looking at too, but I’d start with *Insomniacs, We* for sure.
I really liked Shattered Hours by Gerry LaFemina. Andrea Gibson is excellent too. Not totally sure on your style and away from home/my collection at the moment or I’d have more to contribute. Do you like Darwish, Neruda, or Paz?
E L Mayo. Check out the Questioners and see if it is for you.
Have you tried Sandra Beasley? I Was The Jukebox is a great collection.
recommending poetry is tough — it’s so personal, and so subjective! — but you might like eileen myles and/or natalie shapero