Recent Poetry
May 9, 2020 2:07 AM Subscribe
I just bought a Kindle for my Luddite poet friend and I want to fill it up with poetry from the last 50 years or so. Universally acclaimed, critically hailed, all-killer-no-filler, BEST POETRY EVAR is what I want. Difficulty: in English or Hebrew, published after 1970 or so, little or no free verse. Thanks for any suggestions!
Olio by Tyehimba Jess.
posted by carrienation at 9:55 AM on May 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by carrienation at 9:55 AM on May 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
Sarah Kay -- She had a really popular Ted Talk a few years ago. Her poems are often very wise, empowering, and kind. Good for lifting the spirits :)
posted by NewShoo at 10:11 AM on May 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by NewShoo at 10:11 AM on May 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
I love Wendy Cope, who often writes in rhymed forms.
Carol Ann Duffy also often writes rhymed verse:
Mrs Schofield's GCSE
Prayer
Depending on your definition of free verse, you might also try Kay Ryan, who often uses internal rhyme and a kind of meter and form of her own that, to me, is not like most free verse:
He Lit a Fire with Icicles
Nothing Ventured
I subscribe to the Poem-a-Day and the Poem of the Day newsletters, and once in a while I come across an amazing poet I hadn't read before that way.
I'm pretty sure that's how I learned about A.E. Stallings:
Fairy-tale Logic
Fear of Happiness
Another Lullaby for Insomniacs
After a Greek Proverb
Also, Poets.org has a search page that lets you search by form, so, for example, you can check out villanelles ... although the tool's not perfect.
Also, previously, and my own previously.
posted by kristi at 1:49 PM on May 12, 2020
Carol Ann Duffy also often writes rhymed verse:
Mrs Schofield's GCSE
Prayer
Depending on your definition of free verse, you might also try Kay Ryan, who often uses internal rhyme and a kind of meter and form of her own that, to me, is not like most free verse:
He Lit a Fire with Icicles
Nothing Ventured
I subscribe to the Poem-a-Day and the Poem of the Day newsletters, and once in a while I come across an amazing poet I hadn't read before that way.
I'm pretty sure that's how I learned about A.E. Stallings:
Fairy-tale Logic
Fear of Happiness
Another Lullaby for Insomniacs
After a Greek Proverb
Also, Poets.org has a search page that lets you search by form, so, for example, you can check out villanelles ... although the tool's not perfect.
Also, previously, and my own previously.
posted by kristi at 1:49 PM on May 12, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
Seamus Heaney
Paul Muldoon
Marilyn Hacker
Ted Hughes
Louise Gluck
Some contemporary poets who are well acclaimed -
Daljit Nagra
Alice Oswald
Ishion Hutchinson
Claudia Rankine
Ocean Vuong
Sean Borodale
My own personal recommendation of the most underrated 20th century poet, who wrote in all sort of amazing forms -
May Swenson
posted by mani at 2:59 AM on May 9, 2020 [2 favorites]