21 December 2008

Sunday Salon: Poetry Suggestions?

For the past several weeks, I have been in the mood to read some poetry. I'm not quite sure how to go about picking out something to read. In my poetry reading heyday 25 years ago, Nikki Giovanni was my favorite poet. I don't even remember how I started reading her work, though. I know that I was attracted to writing from the 1960s and 1970s back then, but that's it.

I would welcome any suggestions from poetry lovers out there. I don't like nature poetry, but other than that I am willing to give anything a try.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Billy Collins is amazing. You can hear him read some of his work on YouTube - just search for his name.

Also, The Collected Poems of Madeleine L'Engle is wonderful. I think there are a few nature poems in there, but that's not her primary topic.

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

I immediately thought of Billy Collins. He's clever, readable, and funny.

A nice selection of poetry is found in A Poem a Day, Americans' Favorite Poems, and Good Poems.

As for contemporary poets, I love Susan Mitchell and Pattiann Rogers.

Dani In NC said...

Carrie, I went and listened to a couple of Billy Collins' poems on YouTube. Good stuff. His style is along the lines of what I'm looking for.

Deb, all three of those anthologies look great! I put in a library request right away for A Poem a Day and added Americans' Favorite Poems to my Goodreads TBR list.

Thanks for the suggestions, you two!

Vasilly said...

Good Poems edited by Garrison Keillor
Sinners Welcome - Mary Karr
anything by Stanley Kunitz
All of Us by Raymond Carver

Happy Holidays!

Sarah at SmallWorld said...

Love Billy Collins, as others suggested. But my favorite is Li-Young Lee. Rose is my favorite of his collections, but I love everything.

The Bookworm said...

I don't read too much poetry, but Emily Dickinson is a favorite of mine.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/