#i'll probably clean up this post and put it on the journal website

[smallblanketfort]

Do you (or your followers) have any recs for "classic" poets? I'm really into modern poetry but I also love used bookstores, and they don't exactly sell button poetry books. I'd love to know who too look for next time!

ooh this is such a good question for so many reasons! we spend a lot of time talking about destroying the canon, but sometimes canon and older or obscure writers are the only ones we have access to!

i love used bookstores, and sometimes it’s overwhelming to just set aside an hour to sit on the floor and browse. but you should totally do it sometimes, coffee recommended! it’s also a cute date. just pick a book, flip to a random page, and see if you like or hate it. rinse and repeat. i find that used bookstores often have a ton of poets i’ve never heard of, and they’re sometimes local to the location. super weird and alienating for my anxious self, but it’s super fun esp if you’re traveling and want poetic souvenirs :)

Audre! Lorde! Omg! Yes! Maya Angelou. Omg. See also bell hooks (also a brilliant essayist.) Feminist women who wrote about living and being. So much love. So powerful.

in high school i had a thing for John Keats of the early 1800′s. he’s quite traditional, but very emo nature boy, and accessible. he’s who got me into poetry.Robert Frost is another canon poet who deserves it. he’s surprising, but so grounded in the real world. i found that i related to a lot of his work, such as the hill wife.

Sylvia Plath for your in-your-feelings confessional poetry.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a Beat poet you might encounter and like. he founded city lights book store, and he’s a poet-activist-painter. if you ever find Poetry as Insurgent Art, you need to Get It.Gingsberg too, I guesssss. Tho I agree with Ocean Vuong in “Notebook Fragments” that if a guy says his favorite poet is Ginsberg, he is probably a douche bag. Ginsberg is like the tumbr/twitter eboi of Beat poetry. Aesthetically tm concerned.

Mary Ruefle is also so lovely. i actually have her book “madness, rack, and honey” in my bag right now. i am so smitten by this woman’s brain. see also, Anne Carson and Mary Oliver.

Wendell Berry is another brilliant mind and writer all around. He writes a lot of nonfiction about spirituality, but his poetry is full of wonder and appreciation for nature and the world. I love.

William Blake wrote these poetry and art chapbooks in the 1700′s. So beautiful and interesting to study in relation to his included art and the way these works play off one another.

See also: Rumi.

T. S. Eliot wrote this book called  Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and i wish i had kept it. it’s this absurd illustrated poem book about cats. straight up. it inspired the musical cats, which may or may not put a damper to things, but it’s an amusing, weird book you should try out.

Langston Hughes and James Baldwin. Study them. Ugh.And I can’t escape this post without mentioning e.e. cummings and Rainer Maria Rilke. People love them. Give their works a whirl.

Other women you should know incude Joyce Carol Oates, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Patricia Smith.

if you come across an anthology, you’ve struck gold. anthologies are really lovely ways to access many poets at once, and get a feel for a theme or identity. i esp suggest anthologies for poets of color. omg they’re so good.

i also suggest subscribing to poem-a-day. it’s an email that contains a poem and an audio recording, every single day! even tho it’s hit or miss, as each month has a different curator, i often discover my favorite poems through here. and it’s free ^.^

let me know if anyone else has recommendations, or if you have opinions on the above writers x

ps. check your local library and inquire if they use interibrary loan to get books your library system might not have.