I read somewhere that Prose is basically words in their best order while Poetry is the best words in their best order. You will often ponder over this thought that how a few lines can describe the whole story. Stirring emotions, blending happiness and sadness, serving you best words like someone is casting a spell.
In the words of Allen Ginsberg- “Poetry is not an expression of the party line.Its that time of night,lying in the bed,thinking what you really think,making the private world public, that’s what the poet does”.
You’ll relate to this emotion completely. Professionally being an engineer, I love how a bigger emotion or a serious issue can be compiled in few words from which our profession is far away. I fall in love with poetry genre the moment I took hold of ‘The Essential Rumi ’ because it gracefully and fiercely reminds me of what it means to be alive.
image source – mirakee
I would love to talk on this book on some other day. But in this post, I have composed all the best poetry books you’ll need to read right away.
‘Milk and Honey’ by Rupi Kaur
You’ll love this book. Kaur’s collection is entirely focused on the turmoil of a relationship gone bad experienced from a woman with a past of pain and abuse. It is about the experience of love, loss, violence and a raw story laced in the pages. It’s not ‘pretty’ but ‘powerful and strong’ one. A hauntingly beautiful book. It deserves to be #1 New York Times Best Seller.
perhaps i don’t deserve
nice things cause i am
paying for sins i don’t
remember.
-Rupi Kaur
‘A Memory Of the future’ by Elizabeth Spires
Holding a cup of coffee sometimes you ponder about selfhood and try to find your core identity. That’s what critically acclaimed poet Elizabeth talk about in this book. The limitations of memory, mortality and the boundaries of human existence- all questions and considerations, yet they all return to our fleeting existences.
I will revel in a world
no longer particular
A world made vague,
as if by fog. But not fog.
-Elizabeth Spires
‘Virgin’ by Analicia Sotelo
A debut author and the first winner of Jake Adam York Prize really deserves to be in this list. This book gorgeously, sensuously explores the pleasures and problems of feminine experience. The beautifully written book about what it is to be a woman both on a personal and societal level.
stand naked, ever-burning,
six-winged: two to fly with,
in back: two at the face withstand,
the impossible winds,
that are God.
-Analicia Sotelo
‘Brown’ by Kevin young
Being a prolific writer and the poetry editor of The New Yorker hits the poetry world with his amazing book. The book revolves around the color brown, melds history, politics and culture. Young is also the director of Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
One of my favorite collections because he illustrates poetry’s enduring vitality- and this book exactly reveals why. If you are looking for eloquent, insightful, blunt and beautiful poetry book then that’s the ultimate stop.
the men-
never one-who come
for you,burning
&cutting &crossing-
even a pistol
can be made a whip-
just for you saying
what’s true.
-Kevin young
‘Wild is The Wind’ by Carl Phillips
Carl has written a dozen of books and also served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American poets. This book touches the importance of past. It is depicted as the jazz standards for which the book is named- love at once restless, reckless and yet desired for its potential to bring stability.
About what’s past,
Hold on when you can,
I used to say,
And when you can’t,let go,
as if memory were one of these.
-Carl Phillips