The Five Poets You Should Read

Like my post The Five Novels You Should Read, I want to share the poets that I think should be read, especially if you haven’t heard of them before.

Wendell Berry: he’s well known as an essayist and novelist, but his poetry is brilliant and the foundation of the thoughts he puts down in prose.  His The Collected Poems of Wendell Berry, 1957-1982 is the proper introduction to his oeuvre.

Ted Kooser: he’s a former poet laureate and the champion of writing verse about normal life: porches, barns, and Main Street are the landscapes upon which Kooser places profound thoughts.

Emily Dickinson: she is the master of the short poem.  She also single-handedly taught me to use dashes.

Scott Cairns: he’s brilliant, a writer of beauty who finds joy in everyday life and irony in the simplest of moments.

Czeslaw Milosz: his work, even though it’s translated, is worthy of his Nobel prize.  His last book of poetry, Second Space: New Poems, pushes the boundaries of poetry into discourse and conversation.  It’s a pleasure to read and ponder.