Poetry is perhaps one of the more underappreciated forms of the written word in the modern age. It’s a literary art that uses aesthetics and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning and emotion. Historically it’s been intimidating, and with the temporary boom in popularity thanks to greeting card level instapoetry which has received it’s fair share of criticism, poetry readership is declining.
I had a year long period where I read a lot of poetry, I can’t really explain why as it is a literary form that I wasn’t all that keen on growing up. Sure I wrote some of my own edgy poetry as a teen when I was still interested in being a writer, but I wasn’t all that interested in reading it. With my dive into poetry I found a lot of misses, but I found some gems as well.
There’s far more to the art form than the complex classics and simplistic social media worthy poetry of the modern age. There’s still a lot of good poets writing today in all manner of genres, from confessional personal stories to horror. So here I would like to share five of my favorite collections to hopefully inspire you to give the genre a try (or second try).
Fanged Dandelion by Eric LaRocca
I’m starting off strong with one of the big ones, Bram Stoker Award Nominated ERIC LAROCCA. An author that is blazing a trail through the horror genre with disturbingly beautiful short stories and novels. He has easily become one of my favorite authors in a long time, his stories are some of the few that have genuinely hurt me emotionally.
Just about everyone has read Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke during his meteoric rise to fame from the indie space, but did you know that he has written a poetry collection? According to Goodreads and Amazon, less than 300 have read this collection despite his other books gaining thousands of readers and snapping up major literary nominations.
Eric accomplished something truly magnificent with Fanged Dandelion, and exploration of mental health and intrusive thoughts. If you are a horror fan and especially if you’re already a fan of Eric’s other work, you are absolutely doing yourself a disservice by not reading this collection.
“a cottonmouth still has fangs when it’s asleep.”
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Sisters’ Entrance by Emtithal Mahmoud
Emi Mahmoud is a maverick, an award-winning Sudanese poet and activist that is criminally underread. Her story is incredible, she is a refugee that survived the Darfur genocide. She writes beautifully, and her poetry though harrowing is ultimately hopeful, she’s wise far beyond her years.
During the present day with the threat of war looming on the horizon and the genocide in Gaza on the hearts and minds of people all across the world Mahmoud’s story of surviving the Darfur genocide is ever more timely. If you’re not convinced, I invite you to listen to her perform one of her poems for the United Nations in this clip.
“When you build nations on someone’s bones
what sense does it make to break them?”
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Helium by Rudy Francisco
Rudy Francisco is one of my favorite slam poets and his poetry is a breath of fresh air! His work is personal from his childhood to his adulthood. His work explores themes of race, toxic masculinity, and violence.
There are many performances of his poetry available online, one of the best being his performance of The Heart and the Fist, an excellent sampler of his work.
“I am learning that a person
who only knows how to fight
can only communicate in violence
and that shouldn’t be anyone’s first language.
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If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar
If They Come For Us is a dazzling collection of intersectional feminist poetry focusing on the Asian American experience and partition in India. Asghar’s poetry discusses her struggles with fitting into American culture and taking ownership of her identity. I saw so much of myself in this collection as an Asian American woman and ate up every verse.
“You speak a language until you don’t. Until you only recognize it between your auntie’s lips. Your father was fluent in four languages. You’re illiterate in the tongues of your father.”
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Our Numbered Days by Neil Hilborn
Neil Hilborn is a slam poet and the one that got me into reading poetry. It started from a tumblr post about his performance of The Future which struck a chord with me. Although this poem is not included in Our Numbered Days, I chose this collection because it’s the one I liked the best.
Neil’s poetry is deeply personal and explores themes of mental health, suicide, relationships, and hope.
“But isolation is not safety, it is death. If no one knows you’re alive, you aren’t. If a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around to hear it, it does make a sound, but then that sound is gone. I am not saying you will find the meaning of life in other people. I am saying that other people are the life to which you provide the meaning.”
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Let’s Discuss!
♥ Do you read poetry, why or why not?
♥ Do you have any favorite poets?
♥ What are your thoughts on instapoetry and modern poets?
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