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sophia_sol) wrote2020-04-20 07:43 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2020-04-20 07:43 pm
Entry tags:
poetry recs
I was thinking again about poetry I like, after revisiting Robert Service rather to excess, and thought I'd maybe do a reclist of 10 poems I like that you can read online.
Let's see how I am at talking about what I like about poetry. I don't have a lot of experience at that. Here we go!
1. Conscientious Objector, by Edna St Vincent Millay
This one gives me feelings and also I love the way it frames the whole thing. "Am I a spy in the land of the living that I should deliver men to Death?" God I love it.
2. My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears, by Mohja Kahf
The solidity of the imagery is amazing, how thoroughly it brings you into the specific moment the poem is talking about, but also the specific story is a window into a much larger experience.
3. This Vote Is Legally Binding, by Ursula Vernon
So like. It's funny? It's taking an obviously absurd premise to its conclusion in a really fun way. But also: yes.
4. Million-Year Elegies: Oviraptor, by Ada Hoffman
Aww yeah dinosaur poetry! Okay but like actually this is so lovely, bringing an intimate perspective on a long-dead creature that scientists at first misunderstood.
(For those who are not dinosaur obsessed: this poem makes more sense if you are aware that when Oviraptor was first discovered near a nest of eggs it was assumed it was an egg-eating dinosaur there to steal the eggs, but it's since been determined that the eggs were almost certainly the Oviraptor's own, which it was caring for.)
5. Legacies, by Nikki Giovanni
IDEK it just like. Perfectly encapsulates in this tiny wee bit of writing something that feels really real and true. The challenges of communication!
6. Wandering Around an Albuquerque Airport Terminal, by Naomi Shihab Nye
This one brings to life the wonder and realness and goodness of shared connections with other people, and it's, like, hopeful, but a sort of defiant hopefulness in the face of modern realities of racism.
7. Is This the Face? by Jo Walton
Accurate at capturing a mindset that can overwhelm you when you are in the throes of puberty, in the context of Helen of Troy being 13.
8. Catch A Body, by Isle Bendorf
The way it all flows trippingly forward, carrying you through a rushing series of thoughts and feelings and images, is just really effective to me at conveying the things it's trying to convey.
9. Translatio, by Sharon Hsu
One of those poems that just tells a story about a person's life experience really well.
10. From Blossoms, by Li-Young Lee
Really evocative, taking this really specific imagery and building out and off of it in a way that takes you there.
Let's see how I am at talking about what I like about poetry. I don't have a lot of experience at that. Here we go!
1. Conscientious Objector, by Edna St Vincent Millay
This one gives me feelings and also I love the way it frames the whole thing. "Am I a spy in the land of the living that I should deliver men to Death?" God I love it.
2. My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears, by Mohja Kahf
The solidity of the imagery is amazing, how thoroughly it brings you into the specific moment the poem is talking about, but also the specific story is a window into a much larger experience.
3. This Vote Is Legally Binding, by Ursula Vernon
So like. It's funny? It's taking an obviously absurd premise to its conclusion in a really fun way. But also: yes.
4. Million-Year Elegies: Oviraptor, by Ada Hoffman
Aww yeah dinosaur poetry! Okay but like actually this is so lovely, bringing an intimate perspective on a long-dead creature that scientists at first misunderstood.
(For those who are not dinosaur obsessed: this poem makes more sense if you are aware that when Oviraptor was first discovered near a nest of eggs it was assumed it was an egg-eating dinosaur there to steal the eggs, but it's since been determined that the eggs were almost certainly the Oviraptor's own, which it was caring for.)
5. Legacies, by Nikki Giovanni
IDEK it just like. Perfectly encapsulates in this tiny wee bit of writing something that feels really real and true. The challenges of communication!
6. Wandering Around an Albuquerque Airport Terminal, by Naomi Shihab Nye
This one brings to life the wonder and realness and goodness of shared connections with other people, and it's, like, hopeful, but a sort of defiant hopefulness in the face of modern realities of racism.
7. Is This the Face? by Jo Walton
Accurate at capturing a mindset that can overwhelm you when you are in the throes of puberty, in the context of Helen of Troy being 13.
8. Catch A Body, by Isle Bendorf
The way it all flows trippingly forward, carrying you through a rushing series of thoughts and feelings and images, is just really effective to me at conveying the things it's trying to convey.
9. Translatio, by Sharon Hsu
One of those poems that just tells a story about a person's life experience really well.
10. From Blossoms, by Li-Young Lee
Really evocative, taking this really specific imagery and building out and off of it in a way that takes you there.
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(We seem to have curiously similar taste in poetry!)
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Anyway yes the Oviraptor poem is amazing and so powerful and I love it a lot. Have you read that author's short story about alt-history bone wars?
And I should look for more of Li-Young Lee's poetry. Most of the poetry I read these days is just whatever ends up in front of my eyeballs as I wander the internet, not like, me deliberately seeking it out, so I know literally nothing about Li-Young Lee except for that one poem.
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Google is not helping me find that specific poem I vaguely remember, but everything else I found was good, also. I really love the way he builds emotion on top of those very specific images.