Every year I turn the page on the calendar from March to April to discover again I've not prepared myself for National Poetry Month. This year, however, I am ready for it:
- I've purchased a new poetry book edited by James Crews, The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace and Renewal. I just finished another collection edited by Crews, How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope. I'm timing my review of that book to be published on my blog on April 1st!
- I visited the library and checked out four poetry books:
- A Year of Last Things: Poems by Michael Ondaatje
- Make Me Rain: Poems and Prose by Nikki Giovanni
- Grace Notes: Poems About Families by Naomi Shihab Nye
- Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
- I've placed at least one other book on hold at the library and hope for my turn sometime in April:
- Tripas: Poems by Brandon Som
A few weeks ago a fellow book blogger asked me how I figure out what poetry books/poets to read. Here are a few few ideas where to start:
- A good place to start if you aren't much of a poetry reader but want to read more is a collection of shorter poems like How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope. The collection, edited by James Crews, contains 100 one-page poems by different poets organized loosely on themes. As I read the poems I pay attention to those I particularly like and I also note the poet so I can explore their works later more fully. I discovered Marjorie Saiser through her few poems in the this collection and want to read more.
- I pay attention to the National Book Award which offers an award for best poetry as one of their categories. They also list four finalists along with the winner, and five other volumes on a longlist. That is ten volumes of poetry to explore. What I have noticed about these poetry books is they tend to be more sophisticated/complicated than my tastes run. But I usually try to read at least one or two of them each year. Tripas by Brandon Som was last year's National Book Award winner for poetry.
- Once I find a poet I like I look for other books by them. Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, Rumi, and Naomi Shihab Nye are long-time favorites. Each year I branch out and find new favorites. Nikki Giovanni may become a new favorite. I've read several of her poems in the past but not a whole book. We'll see what I think.
- I don't usually pay attention to social media poets but I did learn of one who has a big Instagram following, Kate Baer, and I've enjoyed two of her books so far. I'm a fan of Amanda Gorman and made a point of read her poetry after Biden's inauguration featured her as the invited poet. Sometimes I even learn about poets who have a big following by paying attention on Goodreads. I "met" Rupi Kaur's poetry this way. And, of course, word of mouth. If bloggers review a poetry book they like I will usually flag it so I remember to look for it at the library.
- Lastly, I sometimes like to explore the poetry of writers not usually thought of as poets: Michael Ondaatje, Ocean Vuong, and Margaret Atwood all come to mind. I met them all first through their fiction writing.
Join me. Read some poetry in April.
-Anne
