Find a real page-turner with this poetry recommendation
Natalie Dean | Entertainment Editor
Poetry is often enjoyed because of its versatility ⏤ especially since there are so many different poets and genres to explore. To help narrow down the search, here’s a list of four poets and their works to help get the ball rolling:
- “Among the Dog Eaters” by Adrian C. Louis.
Louis covers material centered on being Native American in the 20th century and recounts his experiences in a vivid, vulnerable way. From the foreword written by Jimmy Santiago Baca, “[Louis] deals with margin life, the blood and betrayals, the bleak joys and raging ecstasies of our lonely, primal dance as humans living in a world insanely intoxicated on cheap thrills.” Broken into five parts ⏤ all jam packed with poems ⏤ the titles alone are enough to make a reader intrigued. Some of my personal favorites are “Sometimes a Warrior Comes Tired” and “In the Ghetto on the Prairie there is Unrequited Love.”
- “at the helm of twilight” by Anita Endrezze.
With a tough love, no-nonsense attitude, Endrezze uses lyrical poetry to wrap the reader into the natural rhythm that is created, and her sharp imagery keeps the pages turning. She takes closely familiar, universal experiences, examines them and then uses original approaches to poetry, such as the ways it can be read and enjoyed by many audiences. The poem, “Sunflower Woman,” is a poem that can be read in vertical or horizontal columns, and another poem, “In the Horizontal Sky,” consists of twelve short sections.
- “The Captain’s Verses” by Pablo Neruda.
Neruda is a staple among many people’s poetry collections and is well known for his artistic use of language that pulls at the readers’ heartstrings. He addresses the visceral feelings of new love and ecstasy, relationships with one another and the deep connections people share through their lives. In his poem, “Not Only the Fire,” he describes, “Ah my life/ it is not only the fire that burns between us/ but all of life,/ the simple story,/ the simple love/ of a woman and a man/ like everyone.”
- “War of the Foxes” by Richard Siken.
Siken takes a compelling and haunting approach to his poetry, touching on issues around morality, personhood and the ways people find meaning and purpose in art. He uses raw language that can also be found in his poems from earlier published collections, such as “Crush.” This collection holds stories of birds, war and tales about the moon.
Contact the author at ndean17@wou.edu
