YAY. A few years ago, I started copying poems out longhand and mailing them to friends and loved ones. It's become a kind of spiritual practice for me, and I'm always on the lookout for new poems to share - I am familiar with many on this list, but not all. Thank you!
Charissa Steyn, thank you for that wonderful phrasing: "Poetry is my bible!" I think mine too, now that you bring that image/thought/notion into view. Bless you for it! I may use it as an epigram for a poem a-bubbling up in me. If so, will credit you on 3/13/23. Thank you ongoingly. With respect, Emily Style
This is such an amazing list- thank you! I'll add "I Went Out to Hear" Leila Chatti, and the short story (not a poem, but her prose is so poetic) "Woman Hollering Creek" by Sandra Cisneros. Also, Charlotte Clymer used "Good Bones" in her review of Ted Lasso Season 3 on her Charlotte's Web Thoughts substack today. :-).
Amazing how during times of stagnation, frustration and mornings that begin under the weight of grief, a simple poem can pick your head up and reposition perspective toward the light, even if it is briefly. Bonus for when it sparks a desire to share the lines that move you with someone else and relay the love forward. Thank you for this. Keep Moving.
Thomas Lux, "Poem in Thanks," which if I read it before 7 a.m. after two cups of coffee, makes me want to run through a goddamn wall and swim in a cold lake.
YAY. A few years ago, I started copying poems out longhand and mailing them to friends and loved ones. It's become a kind of spiritual practice for me, and I'm always on the lookout for new poems to share - I am familiar with many on this list, but not all. Thank you!
I love this.
This is a great idea!
You're doing great, Nishta. I like your approach.
“Gate A-4” by Naomi Shihab Nye
https://poets.org/poem/gate-4
“Instructions on Not Giving Up” by Ada Limon
https://poets.org/poem/instructions-not-giving
I had never read “Gate A-4” before. Thank you for sharing!
I love these! Thank you :-)
Yes! Love both of these!
One of my favorites, too.
"Will You?" Carrie Fountain https://poets.org/poem/will-you
YES! Actually, everything Carrie's ever written makes me glad to be alive.
Thank you for this! Love this list, espeically Ross Gay.
Here are mine:
"We Real Cool," Gwendolyn Brooks https://poets.org/poem/we-real-cool
"Coal" Audre Lorde https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42577/coal
Maybe the following are cheating, but I consider them poems!
"Things have changed," Bob Dylan https://genius.com/Bob-dylan-things-have-changed-lyrics
"Keep ya head up," Tupac Shakur https://genius.com/2pac-keep-ya-head-up-lyrics
Poetry is my bible! Thank you for this huge list, I will copy it and print it right this second ✨
Charissa Steyn, thank you for that wonderful phrasing: "Poetry is my bible!" I think mine too, now that you bring that image/thought/notion into view. Bless you for it! I may use it as an epigram for a poem a-bubbling up in me. If so, will credit you on 3/13/23. Thank you ongoingly. With respect, Emily Style
So glad it helps and inspires Emily:)
This is such an amazing list- thank you! I'll add "I Went Out to Hear" Leila Chatti, and the short story (not a poem, but her prose is so poetic) "Woman Hollering Creek" by Sandra Cisneros. Also, Charlotte Clymer used "Good Bones" in her review of Ted Lasso Season 3 on her Charlotte's Web Thoughts substack today. :-).
I love Charlotte. And these are great additions, thanks!
What a list! Thank you.
A couple more, off the top of my head:
Ellen Bass's "Gate C22" <https://poets.org/poem/gate-c22>
Richard Wilbur's "Praise in Summer"
Mary Oliver’s “At the River Clarion” is my favorite of all time 🙂
Love this one!
Grateful to have found this today.
Amazing how during times of stagnation, frustration and mornings that begin under the weight of grief, a simple poem can pick your head up and reposition perspective toward the light, even if it is briefly. Bonus for when it sparks a desire to share the lines that move you with someone else and relay the love forward. Thank you for this. Keep Moving.
Thomas Lux, "Poem in Thanks," which if I read it before 7 a.m. after two cups of coffee, makes me want to run through a goddamn wall and swim in a cold lake.
http://inwardboundpoetry.blogspot.com/2006/03/70-poem-in-thanks-thomas-lux.html
Well, this life affirming list could not have arrived at a better time. What a gift this has been today. Thank you, Maggie.
💚
Alive Together, Lisel Muller
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/alive-together/
Oh yes. She’s one of my favorites.
Thank you!
I love “Happiness Writes White” by Edward Hirsch as well. ❤️ https://readalittlepoetry.com/2011/04/14/happiness-writes-white-by-edward-hirsch/
Two that spring to mind immediately for me...
'Fucking in Cornwall', Ella Frears. https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/fucking-in-cornwall/
'Coconut', Paul Hostovsky https://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=988
So good to see Alison Luterman's name on this list! I think joy frequently figures in her work, but my favorite of hers is "Some Girls" for exactly this reason. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/magazine/poem-some-girls.html
*Thank you so much for this glory of poetry riches! <3
things shouldn't be so hard by kay ryan https://wordsfortheyear.com/2020/06/12/things-shouldnt-be-so-hard-by-kay-ryan/
Yes!