Reddit mentions: The best poetry anthologies

I think all the actual suggestions I made in this post would apply here (disregard that it's about buying a poetry gift, you're the 'they' or 'she' in this haha) so I'll paste it in and make a few additional suggestions. But #1 suggestion is to read through Poetry 180 and when you find pieces you like to search those poets in google or at poetryfoundation.com (they also have a great browse function where you can search by theme, 'school', poet, subject, occasion etc)

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There's certainly a wide variety of options, the best options are mostly more poetry to read. All good poets read lots of poetry. I mean, sure, there's probably 3 or 4 out there that don't, but outliers aside, poets read poetry. So there's a couple options, if she only started writing a couple years ago, I would suggest a workshop type text book and a subscription to a nice literary journal like American Poetry Review, Rattle, Ploughshares, Iowa Review, Georgia Review, Arts & Letters, Five Points, Gettysburg Review, Paris Review etc. Depending on the type of poets she likes, different magazines would be better.

One good tact would be to ask them for a few of their favorite poets, maybe say you're thinking about reading more poetry or something, or just ask. Do a google search for their name and "literary journal" or "literary review". If you see that name in any of the above journals I mentioned, get her that subscription. If not, consider getting her one of their collections from Amazon. For anthologies, which are great for young poets especially, because it can help introduce a reader to many similar or dissimilar voices to broaden their reading horizons, and also some of the books I'll be recommending have a strong prompt/craft component to help them continue to develop. I especially recommend the bolded titles, and Seriously Funny, while good, may be a bit complicated for a newish reader of poetry. But I could be misreading what you mean by poetry career and they could be plenty comfortable with it.

Here are a couple that are good options:

Seriously Funny is a great anthology themed after poems that bring wit to serious topics. It's edited by husband/wife poetry duo David Kirby and Barbara Hamby.

Staying Alive has a great variety of poems organized by theme. These are mostly poems published in the last 50ish years, and lean slightly toward being more accessible (easy to understand) than the first anthology.

Contemporary American Poetry: Behind the Scenes was edited by Ryan G. Van Cleave and is more of a textbook (like the next 2). It has a CD with audio recordings of many of the poets in the book and it is broken up by poet, mostly chronologically I believe. It has some craft essays as well. Being a textbook, new copies are expensive, but used are cheap cheap.

The Poet's Companion is edited by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux, both tremendous poets in their own right. This one is more oriented in using poems to spark your own writing, but it does have a good amount of poetry in there, and the craft essays are brief and to the point.

In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet's Portable Workshop edited by Steve Kowit is also a great textbook for producing your own writing by looking at certain aspects of other poems. Stylistically this is similar to The Poet's Companion, and both are tremendous. Used they're each only $6 with shipping too.

Or, here are a few books that you can't go wrong with: Rose by Li-Young Lee, Tell Me by Kim Addonizio, Rail by Kai Carlson-Wee, The House of Blue Light by David Kirby, American Noise by Campbell McGrath, The Gary Snyder Reader—a huge book, but great, Some Ether by Nick Flynn

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If you find a few more specific poets you like and want to find more of feel free to message me, and if I'm familiar with them I'll shoot you some more suggestions. A couple other poets who get personal and focus on minutiae/details etc would be like Albert Goldbarth, Billy Collins, Stephen Dunn, Matthew Neinow, Nick Latz, Gaylord Brewer, Ted Kooser, Philip Levine and, a couple that do similar with a definitely stylistic approach would be like Bob Hicok, Dean Young, Alex Lemon and Emma Bolden. For other lyrics/audio you may enjoy Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, Ani DiFranco, Utah Phillips, Sage Francis, Aesop Rock, Atmosphere/Slug, Josh Martinez...

Best of luck on your journey!

If you really have no idea where to start, anthologies can easily become your best friend. There are many, many out there, but the idea is that you will have a large selection of stories by different authors who can give you quick exposure to different styles, themes, techniques, etc. Then, when you find an author you enjoy / want to learn more from, you can go looking for them. This will also let you dive into different genres quickly and give you starting points. As for what genres: read everything. And I don't mean everything as in "Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, etc etc" - I mean read fiction (both short stories and novels), essays, and poetry. Even if you have no interest in writing poetry, for example, it can teach you more about how language sounds and how it can affect speed of reading than many pieces of fiction can ever hope to do.

As to how to read: read carefully and closely. Don't rush through it. You're not necessarily reading for pleasure any more (though you still can - consider reading stuff that really hits you twice or more). How does the story arc go? How does the author create a sense of each character? How does his sentences make you read faster or slower? What details doesn't he say? See how the story works as a whole, and on a sentence by sentence level. (This is assuming fiction - reading poetry means focusing on line breaks, imagery, the sound of language, how do the line breaks affect how fast the eye reads.) It takes a lot of work, but it gets easier the more you do it.

A few suggestions:

Fiction:

You could try the "Best American Short Stories" series that is put out every year. It will give you a good thirty or so stories that are considered exceptional from small print journals from the corresponding year. I've found a lot of amazing writers in them. I also suggest The Best American Short Stories of the Century. I also recommend listening to the New Yorker Fiction Podcast as a way to find new authors - when you find a story you enjoy, track down the written version and tear it apart, and certainly read other works by the same author.

Essays:

Again, a nice easy lead in that I've found is the "Best American Essays" series. Same as before: each year, some thirty or so essays from small journals from that year. Maybe not the most wide-ranging sample, as it focuses on American writing, but there is always a surprising breadth of voices and subject matter in them. There are also a ton of essay anthologies, but I haven't gone through any of them completely enough to make a suggestion.

Poetry:

If you have a decent amount of money to throw away, I'd recommend the Norton Anthology set on modern and contemporary poetry. Volume 1 focus on modernism, and Volume 2 focus on contemporary. They have such a huge collection of different poets that there is something in there for everyone, and can set you off chasing down other poets easily. If you are also rolling in money, you might like Strong Measures, which examines a wide swath of formal poetry, but probably doesn't have much use outside of poets wanting to learn about specific forms. Otherwise, there's The Poetry Foundation where you can listen to a monthly podcast that might turn you on to some different poets, as well as a huge resource of free poetry and essays about poetry.

Hey VA. Awesome question. In my opinion, the best thing you can do to improve your writing is read voraciously. A lot of people say, read "hard" books above your ability, but I think truly hard reading is reading stuff outside the bounds of what you normally read. For instance, if you love SF/Fantasy novels, read some literary fiction. If you're into pulp romance novels, read some fan fiction.


It also helps to think about what you mean by improved writing, because a lot of the most beautiful, exquisite novels don't do well commercially with a few rare exceptions, like Thomas Pynchon. Gravity's Rainbow is notorious for being almost unreadable; a Dostoyevsky novel is considered some of the most elite literature in the world, yet to me, it's unreadable. I feel the same way about Tolkein's books. Tolkein was writing to document his languages. He was a very 'correct' English writer, but stylistically I find him very dull.


Immediate writers who can craft a vivid world and story are my favorite. Kurt Vonnegut, Chuck Palahniuk, Tom Robbins are all great novelists with a very specific style. You gotta just devour writing of all kinds.


I also find that reading and writing poetry has crafted my understanding of precise, sexy word choice and pacing tremendously. Check out The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. A lot of these poems are from the beat generation era writers, who struggled with exactly what you're talking about, growing up in that 1950's mentality which was very repressive.


Finally, you have your own lifestyle. The best writing tends to be the most honest and direct experience of the writer. Consider what a personal revolution would be to you, what you intensely love, the things you wish for but are afraid to do. Honestly, if you want to approach the highest level of writing, go do some of those things. Or at least fantasize about doing them in your writing. A great example is Samuel R. Delany - he is a very gay, african american writer who grew up repressed by society from every side, but he also had a really wild sex life, and he was able to use those details in his writing. It isn't smut, but he knows smut. It isn't racist, or the kind of bitter, woe-is-me writing that a lot of minorities or subcultures can't escape - but it's informed by that narrative, as well as the counter-narrative of affluent white people who don't even think in those terms. So reading a Delany novel (most of which are Sci Fi novels) is an intense experience. I get so much value from those books, because he's taken the time to really go into these issues that, being gay and black, he can't ignore. If you can start thinking in these terms, you can start making literature on a really high level. It doesn't matter how exquisite your vocabulary is, or how complex your plot structures are - it just matters how you see and interact with the world, your world, and how immersively you can bring us into that world.

There's the Giant Book of Poetry which is over 700 pages and basically spans all of written history (from years BC to poets born in the 1980's). There's bound to be something you like in there.

There's also The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry (vintage here refers to the publisher, in case you were thinking "vintage" and "contemporary" were contradictory lol). This book has a wide variety of poets that might be lesser known since they aren't American, but still includes some well loved poets including Pablo Neruda and Seamus Heaney. This is a great one too.

I've recommended this a few times on here but there is also the Best American Poetry Series. It comes out every year. Basically, a prominent poet is chosen as the editor each year and they choose the best (totally subjective, but still) poems that were published in literary magazines that year. While it's limited to American poets, it provides a huge variety of poets both established and emerging. Also, it comes out every year, so that's pretty awesome too. The most recent one is Best American Poetry 2013 whish was edited by one of my favorite poets, Denise Duhamel. Totally recommend it. Good luck, hope this was helpful!

1. The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry 1 -
   
   This book is heavy, so it doubles as a brick for smashing in the windows of capitalist bourgeois pigs. Reading it is like taking a shot of tabasco sauce and injecting it into your eye with a hypodermic needle.
   
   
2. Surrealist Poetry in English 2 -
   
   I had to buy this one on ebay, but it's a damn fine collection. Makes me want to hand out LSD-laced lollypops to schoolkids, then piss on the grave of H.W. Longfellow.
   
   
3. Norton Anthology of Modern & Contemporary Poetry 3 -
   
   These two have all the good ones of the 20th century, a clean layout, and a fine selection. Good for reading beneath a tree in the autumn, in a graveyard.
   
   
4. Penguin Anthology 4 -
   
   It's edited by Rita Dove, so you know this collection has good taste. The poems are from a wide spread of poetry movements, but personally, I find a lot of the pieces in it to be a little too 'delicate'. But very good for reading naked in bed, while softly stroking the hair of your sleeping lover.
   
   
5. English Romantic Poetry 5 -
   
   Got all the biggies like Byron, Shelly and Keats. I fuckin love Keats. This book is a great introduction to 19th century poetry. This is good for reading on a bus while driving past a field of flowers on a humid summer evening with the windows open, reminiscing about your high school crush.

Happy happy cake day! And thanks for this contest! I had a lot of fun doing this!

1. Candy can be a cake replacement sometimes if its this big :)
   
2. Don't have anything Simon Pegg related, sorry.
   
3. My favorite, poetry!
   
4. I already have some so they aren't on my wishlist :(
   
5. The most comfortable animal thing EVER
   
6. My favorite shade of purple
   
7. This is kinda like a game.....
   
8. ummm none on my wishlist already
   
9. Its surprisingly very helpful
   
10. Best. Things. Ever.
    
11. Helps organize my nail polish collection!
    
12. All day 'evry day
    
13. Closest thing I could find on my wishlist
    
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16. My lips would love to wear these!
    
17. Found these on someone elses wishlist and bursted out laughing!
    
18. Nothing:/
    
19. I have always wanted one of these things
    20.It's cheap and it smells like heaven!

All of the books you've mentioned would have to be read in translation which rather defeats the purpose of reading poetry.

If you really want to read a book that is a poem, I would suggest [Love, Dishonor, Marry, Cherish, Perish] (http://www.amazon.com/Love-Dishonor-Marry-Cherish-Perish/dp/038553521X), a contemporary novel written entirely in Iambic Pentameter. It's sad, funny, tender and very entertaining and it's a great book.

I would also urge you to consider reading some straight-up poetry because it's beautiful and because there is so much good poetry out there both contemporary and older.

You could start with something like the Dover Thrift Poetry Anthology which is slim and inexpensive and offers a good selection of English Language poetry up until the early 1900s. Or you could look at some more contemporary stuff which is great and I'd be happy to suggest something to you along those lines if you were interested.

I've run a certain Haiku exercise with great success. You may need to alter the exercise to make it more accessible for your non-native speakers, but maybe you can find a way to make some or all of it work:

Start with a brief, accessible description of Haikai no Renga. Have the students pass a piece of paper around and create their own version that captures the spirit of the exercise.

Next, give a brief history on Basho and the way he morphed Linked Verse into Haiku. Go over the subtle intricacies of traditional Haiku, everything beyond the simple syllabic rules--cutting (kiru), seasonal references (kigo), etc. Have the students create their own classical haikus.

Finally, using Haiku as a base, give the students some insight into the incredible formative power of translation. The introduction to Hass' Essential Haiku is a goldmine of eloquent insight.

A highly effective professor once had my class read different translations of Rilke's [Archiac Torso of Apollo] (https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/archaic-torso-apollo) and discuss the differences, something else you might want to try.

Good luck, hope this suggestion helps!

In terms of anthologies, my best luck so far has been with "The Best American Poetry [year]" I also love the "Best New Poets of [year]" series.

They are absolutely amazing.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-American-Poetry-2013/dp/1476708134


http://www.amazon.com/Best-New-Poets-2011-Emerging/dp/0976629666

Hard to pick favorites, so I'll give out some of the standard issue ones from my times.

Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" is one that students tend to love, especially if you're doing a good bit about Gothicism. Any Poe short story or poem. On the longer side, "Winter Dreams" by Fitzgerald, that's a very American story though, at least as I've always taught it. For straight poetry, most of Langston Hughes work has great imagery and does well explaining the mechanics of poetry. A book I picked up in college, which this seems to be the current version of has served me very well. Pretty much every poem in there can be given a one day or full week treatment. And, if it isn't in there, Ozymandius by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Rambly list complete!

I would suggest one of Neil Astley's anthologies. Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times was the first, and he's since also put out 'Being Alive' and 'Being Human'. It's all contemporary, thoughtful poetry, some of it similar to the one you posted above, but there's lots of variety.

If you don't mind a mixture of poetry from different styles and eras, I really love Poem for the Day (Poem A Day in the US, apparently).

Also, if you wanted to look into individual poets, I think you might like Richard Siken, Warsan Shire, or Andrea Gibson. I'm happy to dig out some examples of their work online for you, if it would help!

Definitely work on creating concrete images in your poetry. Pulling in sensory descriptions (touch, taste, sight, sound and smell) will help your readers better visualize and connect to your thoughts.

For poetry anthologies, I really enjoyed Staying Alive

I would also recommend visiting The American Academy of Poets and Poetry Foundation for free poetry online from classic poets.

As for poets to read, there are many out there so if you don't like the poets suggested in these comments just remember there are so many more. I personally love Pablo Neruda, Anna Akhmatova, Sylvia Plath, Mary Oliver, Wallace Stevens, H.D., Rainer Maria Rilke and too many more to list.

Wow, people really have had bad exposure to haikus based on these comments. 5-7-5, or what have you (there are a few different forms in Japanese), just doesn't work for the English language, so generally is discarded when writing or translating into English. Traditionally they related to nature in some way, but not exclusively. The point is to make a very short poem that is evocative of some sort of emotion, scene, or sensation. Non-haiku poetry often has the same goal, but without any restrictions on length, and it may use other devices like meter, rhyme, etc. The haiku masters were really good; some of these little poems can really take you to another place with just a few words. It's like the distilled essence of poetry. I'd highly recommend picking up a book of them, I bought this one a while back, his translations are really good.

Edit: Found some decent translations of some of Buson's poems here too. He was always my favorite.

Full Story - I thought it was really ridiculous that there's a tag team called "The Authors of Pain" and they've never actually written a book called Pain, so I got a bunch of my friends together to write it for them. Originally it was just a digital book, but you guys really dug it so I formatted it for paperback and it's now available on Amazon for $4.

https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R

You can still download a free pdf of it at http://supercolliderpress.com/

It's a book of bad poetry from the perspective of Akam and Rezar and with a foreword by Paul Ellering. This thing took several months to put together and I could not be more proud of this. Former WWE writer Matt McCarthy, the head writer of Kayfabe News, the creator of Botched Spot and RD Reynolds of Wrestlecrap.com and a bunch of other really funny writers even contributed pieces. Now it's a literal, physical book which is insane to me.

Edit: Regarding all of the comments about the legality of this, I have a few friends that are parody book publishers that I talked this over with. I'm certainly in a legal grey area, but I doubt this thing is going to set the world on fire sales wise and it's available as a free download at the previously posted Supercollider Press page so I'm definitely not trying to get rich off of it. I mainly created the paperback because a bunch of people in the old thread asked for copies. If I'm asked to take it down, I will but until then I'm not super worried about it. Regardless, the heads up is appreciated.

This is a great question! I'm going to follow all of the recommendations as well, since we recite poetry to our baby. It started out because we were doing it when he was still too little to sit up and be read a book at bed time. Now he loves books so much they work him up at bed time and I still enjoy the poetry side of things as I feel like I've expanded my knowledge at the same time!

I was actually going to just get a spiral book bound with our nighttime favourites, but I'd love to find an illustrated version for later on.

We have this book: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Loved-Poems-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486285537 and we read him anything from Shakespeare to Robert frost. His personal favourite is jabberwocky though :)

I love the 'Staying Alive' anthology http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1852245883/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
It has a lot of contributors and is in sections of different aspects of life. Has a little bit of every style from lots of different time periods. Great way to stumble upon a poet you haven't read before and then go in search of their other stuff! I was worries when I got this as a gift that it would be all very wishy washy 'carry on through difficult times' but it is honestly a great collection :)

The place you should always start with this kind of thing is Homer, where I'm sure there'd be plenty on the dangers of love. In the Iliad, you might want to look at the conversation between Helen and Aphrodite in Book 3, where Helen complains about her being in love with Paris, as well as the seduction of Zeus by Hera in Book 14, where I'm sure you'd get some nice love as disease imagery.

One of the most direct influences on poets like Ovid, Propertius, Horace, et al. would be the lyric poets of ancient Greece, who write about lots of themes, but especially about love. M. L. West's translation of Greek Lyric Poetry is a good one. I'd start with Sappho (especially), but also Alcaeus, both of whom talk about the pain of (unrequited) love. But it's a common enough theme that I'm sure you'd find lots of it in other poets too. We know that Catullus was well-versed in Sappho: Carmen 51 is a direct translation of Sappho fr. 31.

Love and death is a recurrent theme throughout Greek tragedy. For a book-length discussion of the theme, see Rush Rehm, Marriage to Death: The Conflation of Wedding and Funeral Rituals in Greek Tragedy (Princeton, 1994).

In Sophocles' Antigone, for example, you might think about the post-mortem consummation of the 'marriage' between Haemon and Antigone: Haemon stabs himself in the stomach and then 'ejaculates' blood over Antigone's dead body. In the same author's Oedipus the King, Jocasta kills herself on the marriage-bed, after which Oedipus takes her dress-pins and thrusts them again and again into his own eyes, again 'ejaculating' blood all over himself. Sophocles' Trachiniae presents love as a kind of sickness (see esp. lines 445, 5454).

Virgil was heavily influenced by Greek tragedy: the death of Dido in the Aeneid is a carbon-copy of Ajax's death in Sophocles' play of the same name. In that case, however, Ajax kills himself for honour. Dido kills herself for love. Virgil is also heavily influenced by Sappho. One of the most frequent images in the whole Dido-Aeneas affair is the 'fire of love'. Sappho uses this same imagery a lot. (Try to find it for yourself!)

Finally, you might want to look at that other group of poets who were enormous influences on the Augustan poets - the Hellenistic poets. This includes writers like Theocritus, Apollonius and (especially) Callimachus who lived in the third century BC. The Argonautica might be worth looking at to see the presentation of Medea's love for Jason (a strong influence on Virgil's presentation on Dido and Aeneas). What's more, these guys start bringing in the self-conscious literariness and the ironic humour that are familiar themes with poets like Catullus et al.

Hope this helps!

If you want modern American Poerty I HIGHLY recommend this [book] (http://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Bible-American-Poetry/dp/1560252278).

It covers so many of the best poems by many of the famous Contemporary Beat Poets. As well as incredible lesser known beat's like DA Levy, and Bob Wallace. Some of my favorites, are Richard Brautigan, Bukowski, Jack Micheline, Ray Bremser, Neal Cassady. There is even, an incredible poem by Jackson Pollock.

If you believe your words are gospel, then just accept the feedback and move on with your life. If you want to start down the road of legitimately writing poetry that someone who actually reads poetry can appreciate, it's time to get to fucking work.

Of course, you think your "words" are special, but they aren't. This is the same thing every beginner churns out. It's cliché abstraction and it's not worth sharing with anyone. You can call it "poetry" and say it's your "art" and that poetry can't be "defined" -- whatever.

But anyone who actually reads poetry will recognize your "words" immediately for what they are and turn the page.

Read some poetry, man. Read some books about writing poetry and the tools poets use to craft their poems. If you need recommendations, I can give you some, but you'll have to do some fucking work. You might have missed the memo, but writing poetry is hard work.

***

Edit: Here some recommendations to get you started.

• A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver
  
• The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser
  
• In the Palm of Your Hand by Steve Kowit
  
• The Poet's Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux
  
  And if you insist on trying to use end rhymes:
  
  
• Rules for the Dance by Mary Oliver
  
  And please, please pick up a good book of poems from multiple authors so you can get some exposure, such as the Norton Anthology of Poetry or the compilation Good Poems by Garrison Keillor. One of my favorites is A Book of Luminous Things by Czeslaw Milosz.

I would recommend this:http://www.amazon.com/The-Rattle-Bag-Anthology-Poetry/dp/0571225837 It's a great collection and is simple and has some great stuff.

Unanswerable Questions contains a series of poems that dive into some of the most important and most neglected questions we can ask ourselves: What is compassion? How do we show it? Who am I? What is real? What is true? What does it mean to be present? You will find that these poems speak to your soul. They are the words that we all hear deep within, if only we should listen. This book is your chance to pay attention. Inviting you in to your existence, these poems are the siren of your Being. Answer her call. She awaits your opening.


eBook: $2.99 (or free with Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback: $9.99

link to Unanswerable Questions

Nimenoz, nice first attempt. You should read this if you're interested in the historical basis for haiku and why certain elements are included and other elements not included in traditional haiku. I guarantee your haiku writing will improve dramatically in a small amount of time.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Essential-Haiku-Versions-Basho/dp/0880013516

Here's a sneak peak: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/haas/haiku.htm

I'm pretty sure there's a collection of the pics you mention in The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. It's amazing to see.

Oh! I just snorted out loud. Didn't realize that was your poem. So, you should check out a book called The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. That big book will show a beginner poet all the different things a poem can be.

Your "Graceful" poem struck me as creative and thought-provoking because it was sharp and... imagistic. The "Imaginary" poem struck me as a quick outline for something else because the images were lacking. Nonexistent. It had a lot of undeveloped ideas.

You know... the old telling vs. showing cliche? I need something to explode in this poem. I want something to burn the flesh off my hands. I want to taste your passion.

(Aside: Be sure to write for you, not for the upvotes.)

Anyway, I felt the need to comment again because I hadn't realized you were the same poet. Cheers!

One of my favorite poetry books is "A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry," edited by Czeslaw Milosz. The poems aren't difficult to understand yet are diverse and really wonderful. https://www.amazon.com/Book-Luminous-Things-International-Anthology/dp/0156005743/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=A+Book+of+Luminous+Things&qid=1565830406&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

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amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

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amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

I'm not sure if it has 100+, but my favorite collected anthology, by far, is The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart. The subtitle can go fuck itself, but the collection itself is unbeatable. So, so good. Really, this book showed me so much of what poetry can be. I really enjoy that it doesn't focus on one era so much over others, contemporary poetry is well-represented, and this all shows in the organization of poems. Pound right next to Olds right next to Li Po. Brilliant.

If I can get over the subtitle, I feel like anyone should be able to. Check it out!

I'd try to find room for a good anthology of poetry: there's nothing like a beautiful setting—and solitude—to give new meaning to familiar lines. My own personal favorite is Immortal Poems of the English Language, edited by Oscar Williams—it fits in a pocket and gives enough pleasure for a lifetime.

The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology
This is my favorite poetry anthology.

The reviews on the Amazon page.

This is the link with the good reviews and still free, same book but without illustrations and seems like it has a proper index whee you can jump to the poems you want to read.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004UJJJQS/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1482341350&sr=8-3&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=edgar+allan+poe+kindle

Get yourself a good anthology, like this one edited by the Polish poet Czesław Miłosz. Once you know what you like you can get more specific anthologies or collections by specific poets.

Staying alive: real poems for unreal times is a good anthology of modern poems, edited by Neil Astley. it covers all areas of human experience edited into thematic chapters allowing for comparison of perspectives in subjects the that you wish to explore.
cant recommend it highly enough.
edit; Amazon link

http://www.amazon.com/Staying-Alive-Poems-Unreal-Times/dp/1401359264

Staying Alive is a great anthology of poems and it has a bit of everything.

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Link text: The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology

• UK: amazon.co.uk
  
• Spain: amazon.es
  
• France: amazon.fr
  
• Germany: amazon.de
  
• Japan: amazon.co.jp
  
• Canada: amazon.ca
  
• Italy: amazon.it
  
• China: amazon.cn
  
  
  This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting).

Furthermore, he put together a wonderful anthology of poems entitled A Book of Luminous Things, which can be found here.

One can choose to write haiku with 5-7-5 syllables, but it's not at all necessary, and quite liberating to find out what words can do with less.

• "...haiku in English should not stick to the 5-7-5 pattern of syllables. That's because they don't even count syllables in Japanese, but sounds. The word "haiku" is two syllables in English, but counts as THREE sounds in Japanese. And that's just one of many reasons why 5-7-5 is problematic and even inaccurate for haiku in English. The vast majority of serious literary writers of haiku do NOT write 5-7-5, as demonstrated in the leading anthologies and journals for haiku in English."
  
  
• Bought this book by Robert Hass, a beautiful writer and translator from Philadelphia, soon after its publication. You can get an old one for 5 bucks if you're interested. 329 pages.

The Spoken Word Revolution. https://www.amazon.com/Spoken-Word-Revolution-Generation-Experience/dp/1402202466

It has a little bit of everything. Enjoy the adventure.

Probably look for anthologies, such as 101 Great American Poems, or the Giant Book of Poetry.

For a new poet, I highly recommend the Norton Anthology of Contemporary Poetry. It will not only give you a wide array of poets and poetry styles, but will help teach you how to analyze.

Check out some poetry anthologies. Something like "American Hybrid" could be a good place to start.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Hybrid-Norton-Anthology-Poetry/dp/0393333752

or The Seagull Reader Poems

http://www.amazon.com/Seagull-Reader-Poems-Second/dp/0393930939/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252962506&sr=1-1

Hey, they really are great authors.

Funny story, I helped my high school English teacher type out and format his book on Slam Poetry. I met poets like George David Miller and Roger Bonair-Agard. The book is this one but it seems like he has a second edition out (called Redux).

The Giant Book of Poetry has everything from 4000BC through Shakespeare up to contemporary stuff; it's a great starting point. And, unlike a lot of poetry anthologies, it's only $15.

u/Just_Joey released the PDF for free (and the audiobook narrated by Colt Cabana) and a hardcopy on Amazon for $4.

https://soundcloud.com/user-857414650/pain-by-the-authors-of-pain-narrated-by-colt-cabana

http://supercolliderpress.com/ (free PDF)

https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R

I think you would really like this book:


http://www.amazon.com/American-Hybrid-Norton-Anthology-Poetry/dp/0393333752/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1301495281&sr=8-2-fkmr2


It traces the movement of what they call "Hybrid Poetry," (essentially, experimental poetry with formal characteristics) in the 20th Century. Good introductory essays by the authors as well. I'm less swayed by your type of poetry than more conventional forms... but that's something I'm working on.

Try reading Oxford's "Greek Lyric Poetry". These ancient Greek poets wrote about daily life among other things, and sex was a BIG part of that. Graphic descriptions of orgasms, all written in lyrical pentameter. Fun stuff.

I have two anthologies you may enjoy: The Outlaw Bible of America Poetry, and New American Underground Poetry, Volume 1.

This may be something you would enjoy. It's a book of 100 famous poems.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Loved-Poems-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486285537

Immortal Poems of the English Language is my usual go to. I think it has a great selection but I think it originally came out in the 1950s, or at least at some point in the mid point of the last century.

https://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Poems-English-Language-Williams/dp/0671496107/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

The Rattle Bag is a good place to start (lots of bang for your buck).

Funny you say that...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074SFN64R/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_8J-MDb8K3ASNW

The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry is one of my favorites.

He's actually featured in The Spoken Word Revolution. But yes, he's at a level we all aspire to get to.

Clearly, you haven't read their book.

Item.

Thin crust pizza.

Thank you.

I like Staying Alive by Niel Astley

Get a book of poetry and leave it within reach of the can. You never know when you'll need it, and nothing relaxes the bowels like some Coleridge or Yeats.

You might want to look into Robert Hass's translations of haiku by Basho, Buson, and Issa.

They can discuss this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R

https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R

https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R

There's a kickass compendium of outlaw American poesy, I wonder if there's something similar for Europe/other places as an introduction to more poets.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Loved-Poems-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486285537/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1451260212&sr=8-5&keywords=classic+poetry can't beat the price.

What? You haven’t read this? https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R/ref=nodl_

The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry

I would give this a read if the opportunity presents. Some of the works contain harsh language but the quality is undeniable. My 12th LA teacher introduced me to this book years ago and I still give it a go-through now.

https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R

Because there are literally the authors of pain

For those that don't know about it, here is the Book of Pain by the AOP:

https://smile.amazon.com/Pain-Authors-collection-literary-powerhouse-ebook/dp/B074SFN64R/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523325569&sr=1-1&keywords=Authors+of+Pain

It's available on Amazon!

Pain by The Authors of Pain: The debut poetry collection from WWE tag team and literary powerhouse The Authors of Pain.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074SFN64R/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ykaZAbGJNERA0

Ah, yes. The perpetual tragedy of Men's social awareness movements.

​

Late 80's a group of psychologists and writers attempted to address the issues affecting men's psychology and identity in a changing world and society and called it the "Men's Movement." [Suggested Reading](https://smile.amazon.com/Rag-Bone-Shop-Heart-Anthology/dp/0060924209/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550604390&sr=8-1&keywords=rag+and+bone+shop+of+the+heart) When it makes overtures to try and ally itself with feminist groups they are largely rebuked under suspicion and lose just enough interest by it's founders that it gets taken over by a group of horrible misogynists before slowly sputtering out of steam.

​

Late 90's a group of well meaning men looking to address heavy handed policies in the justice system start the men's rights movement so they can spend more time with their kids, before being rebuked by feminist groups and losing all of the reasonable voices inside of itself by the loud bellow of horrible misogynists. This one just sure is taking it's fucking time dying.