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Okay * cracks knuckles *
First up is WHAT THE LIVING DO by Marie Howe, one of my all time favourites ever ever ever. NB: not a great read for anyone who's grieving right now, hence no screenshot. But OMG. This poem. https://poets.org/poem/what-living-do
First up is WHAT THE LIVING DO by Marie Howe, one of my all time favourites ever ever ever. NB: not a great read for anyone who's grieving right now, hence no screenshot. But OMG. This poem. https://poets.org/poem/what-living-do
EARLY IN WINTER by Karen Solie. No one writes poems about driving like Karen Solie does. https://www.lyrikline.org/en/poems/early-winter-4468
Here's WHEN YOU GO by Edwin Morgan, a poem I have loved for 20 years, and still cannot read without crying. https://medium.com/@mj1982m/when-you-go-a-poem-by-edwin-morgan-22644bac7602
Mark Doty, because of course Mark Doty. ONCOMING TRAIN. I carry the last lines of this poem around in my head always. http://theurbanmermaid.blogspot.com/2015/04/oncoming-train-by-mark-doty.html
There aren't loads of Kerry Hardie poems online but I ADORE KERRY HARDIE. This is SHIP OF DEATH, another one maybe to be avoided if you're grieving? But still incredible. https://wfupress.wfu.edu/poem-of-the-week/poem-of-the-day-kerry-hardies-ship-of-death/
Of course there was going to be Richard Siken here. YOU ARE JEFF is one of those poems that just slowly dismantles your mind as you read. Below is just the first stanza. Read the whole thing: http://youngerpoets.yupnet.org/2008/04/17/you-are-jeff-crush-by-richard-siken/
Lucille Clifton. EVERY SINGLE POEM OF HERS but perhaps especially this one? Just for its ending. https://poets.org/poem/my-last-period
WIT IS IT? by William Letford. Folks, if you ever get chance to hear Billy Letford read in person, JUST GO, OKAY? https://proletarianpoetry.com/2015/02/12/wit-is-it-by-william-letford/
Poems I wish I'd written? ALL STORMS HAVE WOMEN'S NAMES by Nadia de Vries. https://www.dreampoppress.net/nadia-de-vries/
THE LAST OF THE FIRE KINGS by Derek Mahon, who died last month. Below is just the first four stanzas, read the whole thing here: http://www.troublesarchive.com/artforms/poetry/piece/the-last-of-the-fire-kings
ANOTHER ANOTHER AUTUMN IN NEW YORK by Morgan Parker is just sheer unadulterated brilliance. http://robmclennan.blogspot.com/2017/03/morgan-parker-there-are-more-beautiful.html
KUDZU by Saeed Jones. Saeed's memoir, How We Fight For Our Lives, is also i n c r e d i b l e. https://poetrylanguageofthesoul.com/2019/10/22/%F0%9F%93%9A%E2%9C%8D%F0%9F%8F%BEpoet-of-the-day-saeed-jones%E2%9C%8D%F0%9F%8F%BE%F0%9F%93%9A/
IF YOU KNEW by Ellen Bass. I only discovered Ellen Bass earlier this year but she is a new fave for life. https://poets.org/poem/if-you-knew
EVERYTHING: ELOY, ARIZONA, 1956 by Ai. Also in the 'poems I wish I'd written' category. https://www.reddit.com/r/Poetry/comments/gr82bi/poem_everything_eloy_arizona_1956_by_ai/
WHY CAN'T YOU BE LEONARD COHEN? by @DeCrooRodney. If you haven't yet discovered Rodney's poems, you need to. He's published by @NightwoodEd. Get on it. http://michaeldennispoet.blogspot.com/2017/12/next-door-to-butcher-shop-rodney-decroo.html
INSTRUCTIONS ON NOT GIVING UP by Ada Limon. I have this poem saved on my phone for times of hardship. https://poets.org/poem/instructions-not-giving
I think of this poem every time I'm on a plane: FLYING AT NIGHT by Ted Kooser
THE DUKE IN PINES by Ryan Van Winkle -- too long to screenshot effectively, sorry. It's also not as good unless you can hear Ryan actually perform it, but still. (From RVW's collection THE GOOD DARK, which you should all buy.) https://www.ryanvanwinkle.com/poems/the-duke-in-pines/
A SMALL NEEDFUL FACT by Ross Gay. I feel like everyone has already read this poem, which is good. But if this is the only RG poem you've read, you should rectify that. His Book of Delights (essays) is amazing, too. It's like medicine. https://poets.org/poem/small-needful-fact
BLACK OAKS by Mary Oliver. Anything by Mary Oliver, but this one's particularly personal to me, and of course brilliant. https://www.poetseers.org/contemporary-poets/mary-oliver/mary-oliver-poems/black-oaks/
...and speaking of Mary Oliver, here's ABUNDANCE by Amy Schmidt, written in memory of Saint Mary. https://janicefalls.wordpress.com/2020/07/22/abundance-by-amy-schmidt/
Kim Addonizio, of course. I feel this unrequited heartbreak poem IN MY DAMN BONES. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=40660
(I had wanted to share a different Kim Addonizio poem with you, but it's not online. It's called Candy Heart Valentine and includes the lines, “You know what I miss? I miss lying next to you/ feeling like a lifeboat roped to an ocean liner.” FUUUUUUCK.)
1383 by Emily Dickinson. Perfection in eight lines. https://onbeing.org/poetry/1383/
ON SEEING IRAN IN THE NEWS, I WANT TO SAY by the amazing @marjorielotfi. So many of her poems are stunning, it was hard to pick just one. https://www.acumen-poetry.co.uk/on-seeing-iran-in-the-news-i-want-to-say/?doing_wp_cron=1605118485.9351658821105957031250
SMALL KINDNESSES by Danusha Laméris - another one I keep in my phone for times when I need it. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/magazine/poem-small-kindnesses.html
And because I found that Danusha Laméris poem via Naomi Shihab Nye, here's her poem GATE A4. I'll always remember going to see Naomi read at @edbookfest with my wee brother Nick and @aldeghesa, and all of us just WEEPING at this poem. https://poets.org/poem/gate-4
HEY HEY MR BLUE by Jen Hadfield. An oldie but a goodie. I first read it at @moniackmhor so it always takes me back there, now. http://poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record862b.html?id=14853
JANUARY by Alison Brackenbury, because it reminds me of my grandmother. It's at the bottom of this page, but you have to scroll right down: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04wv04f
NOT AN ELEGY FOR MIKE BROWN by Danez Smith. Below is just part of it. Read the whole thing, seriously. https://poets.org/poem/not-elegy-mike-brown
More Richard Siken... simply for the last line, LITTLE BEAST. http://youngerpoets.yupnet.org/2008/04/22/little-beast-crush-by-richard-siken/
STAFF SGT METZ by Dorianne Laux, a poem with a comma in it that is SO PERFECT, I wax lyrical about it in #Novelista for almost an entire page. https://womensvoicesforchange.org/poetry-sunday-staff-sgt-metz-by-dorianne-laux.htm
& re: Dorianne Laux, how great are these lines?
"I float in and out of a new kind of horniness,
the kind where you get off on words and gestures;
long talks about art are foreplay, the climax
is watching a man eat a Napoleon while he drives."
LAUNDROMAT http://workingclasspoems.blogspot.com/2009/03/laundromat.html
"I float in and out of a new kind of horniness,
the kind where you get off on words and gestures;
long talks about art are foreplay, the climax
is watching a man eat a Napoleon while he drives."
LAUNDROMAT http://workingclasspoems.blogspot.com/2009/03/laundromat.html
THE KISS by Sasha Pimentel. I feel like a lot of poets have tried to write this poem, but this is the one. https://poets.org/poem/kiss-2
FALLING IN LOVE by Lorna Crozier is a whole mood.
SALMON RIVER MOTEL by Karen Solie is the first poem of hers I ever read and I was immediately smitten. I want to be her when I grow up. https://journals.sfu.ca/capreview/index.php/capreview/article/download/2215/2215/ (NB: link opens a PDF)
Colin McGuire. Force of nature. Had to be a video so you could see him in action. And had to be this poem which I think is probably his greatest hit. @McGuireOlaf, I love you. (NB: brief mention of suicide in the preamble.)
Another of my favourite Edinburgh (/Newcastle!) poets, @munozpoems. ORDINARY LIFE is fab. That last line. https://wildcourt.co.uk/new-work/1404/
Fuck it, I can't not include this poem. ON REM'S AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE by @dean_rhetoric, which I printed, cut out and taped in the front of my poetry notebook to remind me to always be brave and GO THERE. (TW for suicide)(link opens a PDF) https://memoirmixtapes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/19.-Dean-Rhetoric.pdf
Yes, I love Billy Collins and I'm unapologetic about it. I think this is maybe my favourite one?
I'm gutted that I can't share the Elizabeth Alexander poem I'd like to (My Grandmother's New York Apartment), because it's only excerpted online. But I will share with you BLUES, a rare poem written by a fat woman celebrating being a fat woman. https://poets.org/poem/blues
Right, that's forty poems and I need to eat some food. I'm glad you seem to be enjoying these, pals. More later!
