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Poetry Strut

GrandfatherGrandfather 2,303 Posts
edited September 2008 in Strut Central
Can any of you strutters recommend some poetry I should be reading?

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  • GrandfatherGrandfather 2,303 Posts
    It could be classics or even lesser known contemporary writingb,121i would be interested in discovering poetry for maybe the first time.
  • GaryGary 3,982 Posts
    Aw Shucksb,121Poetry Sucksb,121It comes from the heartb,121I come from These Nutz.b,121b,121b,121b,121b,121b,121and there ya go.
  • The-gafflerThe-gaffler 2,190 Posts
    I love you, you love me. Going down the sugar tree. We'll go down the sugar tree, and see lots of bees: playing, playing. But the bees won't sting, because you love me.
  • grandpa_shiggrandpa_shig 5,799 Posts
    i like robert creeley. he's part of the black mountain school of poets. robert olson too.b,121b,121david antin is another dude i really liked. his poems arent really poems. theyre actually transcribed talks that he gives. i think its cuz he finds normal conversation to be poetic. b,121b,121and rene char. my homie just gave me this book with some of his stuff in it. its good. or maybe the translation was good.
  • CousinLarryCousinLarry 4,618 Posts
    Charles Bukowski is one of my favorites. As is Ginsburg. Creeley is a good recommendation too. I would say go to barns and noble and read a bunch of random stuff in the cafe without paying for it. Figure out what you like and look for similar stuff.
  • The-gafflerThe-gaffler 2,190 Posts
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    Quote:/font1h,121b,121Charles Bukowski is one of my favorites.b,121b,121h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121/font1
    Quote:/font1h,121b,121Charles Bukowski is one of my favorites.b,121b,121h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121/font1
    Quote:/font1h,121b,121Charles Bukowski is one of my favorites.b,121b,121h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121/font1
    Quote:/font1h,121b,121Charles Bukowski is one of my favorites.b,121b,121h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121/font1
    Quote:/font1h,121b,121Charles Bukowski is one of my favorites.b,121b,121h,121
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  • CousinLarryCousinLarry 4,618 Posts
    I can't really Fusk with translated stuff, I just feel like too much is missing in not seeing the words as the author intended them.
  • grandpa_shiggrandpa_shig 5,799 Posts
    well, it was one of them books with one page in french and the other translated into english. and im not so keen on translations either. but this one comes from iowa and their reputable poetry school back when in the 60s. i dont mind it. but yeah, some of them translations can be awful. i read a genet translation where the translator was all "thy" and "thou" shakespearean type shit. it sucked.
  • GrandfatherGrandfather 2,303 Posts
    thanks thanks, any more suggestions?
  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    Wallace Stevensb,121Lisa Robertsonb,121Peter Larkinb,121Rusty Morrisonb,121William Carlos Williamsb,121b,121Except for Peter Larkin, they're all relatively straightforward in their language. Rusty Morrison has a series of short poems titled after body parts, and they're really accessible and lovely. b,121b,121You know, if you're not sure whether/how much you like poetry, non-recent James Tate might be a good place to start. If not that, then Williams, maybe. As with music, try some compilations, see what you like.b,121b,121Wallace Stevens is GOAT, though.
  • grandpa_shiggrandpa_shig 5,799 Posts
    i love reading letters between poets. its often times kinda corny and they use big words and ideas that i dont understand. but there's a lot of it is great cuz u can see them working out their ideas. and for me, i prolly understand like maybe 1/16 of a poem. or sometimes even less. but all it takes is a line or a few words put together in it and i will like it. b,121b,121anyways, i tend to like more of the essays of poets rather than the actual poems themselves. like thisb,121b,121a href="http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/poems/proj.verse.html" target="_blank"1http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/poems/proj.verse.html/a1
  • theory9theory9 1,128 Posts
    /font1
    Quote:/font1h,121b,121thanks thanks, any more suggestions? b,121b,121h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121T.S. Eliot's "Wasteland" is unfuckwitable in my opinion.
  • Options
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    Quote:/font1h,121b,121b,121b1William Carlos Williams/b1 b,121b,121b,121h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121"The Great Figure" = classique! b,121b,121among the rain b,121and lights b,121I saw the figure 5 b,121in gold b,121on a red b,121firetruck b,121moving tense b,121unheeded b,121to gong clangs b,121siren howls b,121and wheels rumbling b,121through the dark city. b,121b,121--William Carlos Williamsb,121b,121It took me some time to really feel where dude was coming from, but it all grew on me.
  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    /font1
    Quote:/font1h,121b,121/font1Quote:/font1h,121b,121b,121b1William Carlos Williams/b1 b,121b,121b,121h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121"The Great Figure" = classique! b,121b,121among the rain b,121and lights b,121I saw the figure 5 b,121in gold b,121on a red b,121firetruck b,121moving tense b,121unheeded b,121to gong clangs b,121siren howls b,121and wheels rumbling b,121through the dark city. b,121b,121--William Carlos Williamsb,121b,121It took me some time to really feel where dude was coming from, but it all grew on me. b,121b,121h,121font class="post"1b,121b,121Yeah, tough to beat. Peace to Charles Demuth.b,121b,121Williams's love poems get slept on, though. Dude has some sexy shit.
  • GrandfatherGrandfather 2,303 Posts
    /font1
    Quote:/font1h,121b,121/font1Quote:/font1h,121b,121b,121b1William Carlos Williams/b1 b,121b,121b,121h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121"The Great Figure" = classique! b,121b,121among the rain b,121and lights b,121I saw the figure 5 b,121in gold b,121on a red b,121firetruck b,121moving tense b,121unheeded b,121to gong clangs b,121siren howls b,121and wheels rumbling b,121through the dark city. b,121b,121--William Carlos Williamsb,121b,121It took me some time to really feel where dude was coming from, but it all grew on me. b,121b,121h,121font class="post"1b,121oh man, thanks for that poem.b,121i have to check for williams now, those words are resonating with me right now.
  • hemolhemol 2,578 Posts
    Haikai No Renga (not haiku) is an interesting form of Japanese poetry. I forget the syllable count, but it is often a collaborative effort where a grip of poets would get together, get drunk of plum wine, and write a kind of exquisite corpse that went on for hours and hours. b,121b,121Epic poems of the Ainu ethnic minority are incredibly masterful works that employ a curious combination of syntax and quirky vocabulary. It takes a little while to really absorb the style, but once you do there is something very special about their poems, which are all passed on through oral tradition.
  • GropeGrope 2,970 Posts
    Goethe! b,121b,121Not too many poems, but really anything by him is superb. At least in German. Is he well known in the US?
  • GnarliamentGnarliament 375 Posts
    Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, and Gwendolyn Brooks are all classic
  • SaracenusSaracenus 671 Posts
    Off the top of my head:b,121b,121[LIST]Rumi - Get your Sufi Mystic on! The Coleman Barks translations are the best I have seen.b,121Antonio Machado - Lyrical and deep.b,121William Stafford - Go Oregon!b,121Li-Young Lee - His "Dreaming of Hair" is breathtaking.b,121Emily Dickinson - Get your depression on!b,121Walt Whitman - Quintessential American Poet.b,121Robert Frost - Also quintessential...b,121Nikki Giovanni - Get your soul sister on.b,121Langston Hughes - A Dream Deferred, word!b,121William Shakespear - Not just a playwright, his sonnets are killer./ul1b,121b,121***EDIT***b,121Got ninja-ed by Gnarliament on Walt Whitman, forgot to add E. E. Cummings.b,121**********.
  • grandpa_shiggrandpa_shig 5,799 Posts
    /font1
    Quote:/font1h,121b,121Goethe! b,121b,121b,121h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121yeah, i likes. i dont know if he's widely known as a poet here tho.b,121b,121and its "e.e. cummings". i only say this cuz i was always interested in why he did the small e's.
  • pabloscooterpabloscooter 370 Posts
    go to poetryfoundation.org that's a good starting point. From there it's just exploring, it sounds like you've got a good start here on all the basics. Buy an anthology, find names you like, buy their books. If your interest is in newer works hit up journals, they all have there own particular style and finding a poetry journal you like will give you lots of newer artists to check out. It's a huge medium and despite it's sticking to some very basic conventions (words on a page) it can be very diverse in it's approach and subject matter. It's kind of like saying "recommend me some music" - it's can be a pretty overwhelming place to start. Just like music, I can't stand most poetry but have found the stuff I do like to be worth the effort AKA tons of crap related. When you find someone you dig, check to see if they have books or chapbooks available. And to stick to what you intially asked I'll add:b,121b,121Hart Craneb,121Mark Strandb,121Charles Olsenb,121Brenda Hillman b,121Anne Carson
  • Mad Drama TeacherMad Drama Teacher 1,985 Posts
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    Quote:/font1h,121b,121b,121Williams's love poems get slept on, though. Dude has some sexy shit. b,121b,121h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121Yeah, I wouldn't go so far as sexy, but I like the later period, variable foot poetry such as "Desert Music" and "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower."
  • hemolhemol 2,578 Posts
    Great avatar pabloscooter.b,121b,121"I'm not takin em off, they're famous."b,121b,121"Yeah, get me to do it for you."
  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    some of my favs. b,121b,121lawerence ferlinghettib,121pablo nerudab,121bashob,121leonard cohenb,121saul williamsb,121b,121- spidey
  • vinylstalkervinylstalker 397 Posts
    Walt Whitman. b,121You owe it to yourself to start there.b,121Truly a master. b,121Threw away (European) conventions in order to establishb,121a truly American form of poetry.b,121Free verse, batches.b,121Song Of Myself is easily the single most powerfullb,121work of art I have ever encountered.b,121b,121Contemporary poetry makes me gag and/or fall asleep.
  • ToccuDomuToccuDomu 225 Posts
    John Berryman, anyone?
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