some of my favorite poems
Jul. 21st, 2021 07:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redbellyturtlesdid i spend over an hour writing 1k+ abt poems instead of working on my fics? yes
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
I need to preface this with the fact that if I could only stan one person for the rest of my life, it would be Mary Oliver. No hesitation. I love this poem. This poem is the one who got me started into poetry in the first place 3 years ago, and I come back to it every 2-3 months because it fills me with a desire to be alive. And I know this poem is so hyped and often quoted.
All that being said, the poem fucks. It slaps. It gets quoted a lot for a reason. These are some of the rawest lines I’ve ever read, and it feels so achingly human. Like:
What the actual hell? (I know that I’m not quoting and citing properly. I KNOW. But let me have this.) Anyways, I’m never going to be able to say anything coherent about it. But. You should read it in its entirety if you’ve only ever seen chunks and pieces of it.
http://www.phys.unm.edu/~tw/fas/yits/archive/oliver_wildgeese.html
Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare
This is the one and only Shakespeare poem I have on this list, so don’t worry. The only thing I have to say about this is that the line “It is the star to every wand'ring bark” goes so hard. I rest my case.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45106/sonnet-116-let-me-not-to-the-marriage-of-true-minds
Michiko Dead by Jack Gilbert
It’s such an interesting simile for grief and handling the death of a loved one and how to live on afterwards. The word “grief” is never mentioned in the poem at all, but it’s so apparent that I can almost taste it. There aren’t any particular words that hit you in the gut, and they’re all words that people use in day-to-day conversation for the most part. Instead, the poem is one smooth build up to the last few lines, and it’s as devastating as it is simple.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43407/michiko-dead
The Orange by Wendy Cope
This poem is so simple and YET. I have never wanted to be alive so much. Can you see a pattern here? Anyways, it’s another poem that makes existing worthwhile <3 not too much to say here.
https://gladdestthing.com/poems/the-orange
The Leash by Ada Limón
Humanity is awful and humanity is good. We’re living through an apocalypse that we (read: corporations and militaristic nations) caused but there is still something lovable and worth living for. Goddamn.
And my favorite lines: “Perhaps we are always hurtling our body towards / the thing that will obliterate us, begging for love / from the speeding passage of time.” I’m probably using this phrase too much, but this fucks.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/147505/the-leash
To the Man Who Shouted “I Like Pork Fried Rice” at Me on the Street by Franny Choi
Angry Asian women, my beloveds. Okay but genuinely, as an Angry Asian Woman, I felt this so hard. Maybe people of color who get catcalled should be allowed to commit one (1) murder free of charge (this is a JOKE pls don’t come for me <3). There is so much homicidal energy in this, and I 100% support her.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/56850/to-the-man-who-shouted-i-like-pork-fried-rice-at-me-on-the-street
The House by Warsan Shire
Did you know that I love women? Anyways, this poem is a single metaphor extended across 10 sections with underlying horror themes, and I can’t imagine anything I’d want more from a poem. There’s something to be said about the complexity of women and ownership over our bodies, but it’s 10:30 PM currently, and I lack the intellectual capability to write coherently even at 10:30 AM, so that’s all you’re going to get.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/90733/the-house-57daba5625f32
Lead by Mary Oliver
Yet another Mary Oliver poem, and this one is just as good but sadder. This is also another one of those “yes, the world is a little bit tragic, but we can choose to be good together” poems, and I’m a sucker for those.
https://wordsfortheyear.com/2020/06/18/lead-by-mary-oliver/
Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong by Ocean Vuong
I feel like no list of favorite poems would be complete without at least one poem by Ocean Vuong, and here’s mine. Do I understand a single thing about this? Not at all. But it made me feel an Emotion, so it belongs here. Full of unexpected and jarring metaphors and similes that make literally no fucking sense to me, but god, do they make me feel something.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/04/someday-ill-love-ocean-vuong
The Hush of the Very Good by Todd Boss
This is a fun one to read out loud! It just sits so well in my mouth, and Boss does a great job of playing with consonance and assonance and alliteration. Not too hyped about the content itself, but I wish I could listen to someone read it on repeat for 24 hours.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/49179/the-hush-of-the-very-good
Dear White America by Danez Smith
Another one that needs to be read out loud! And if you have the time, I would recommend watching Danez Smith’s recitation. This poem makes me upset and angry and sad in ways that I think everyone should be, and the poem itself is gorgeous. As someone who’s not black, I feel a little tentative about offering commentary, so I’ll just leave it at that!
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/150542/dear-white-america
love poem by Linda Pastan
I’m normally not a huge fan of love poems, but I enjoyed this one! In particular, I really liked the use of enjambment and repetition in the second half of the poem, and I think Pastan makes good on what she said she wanted to do in the first half. Another poem that needs to be read out loud!
https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2005%252F02%252F12.html
The Raincoat by Ada Limón
I am NOT immune to poems about parental love and neither are you <3 In all seriousness, this puts into words what I’ve felt but never been able to describe my whole life.
https://poets.org/poem/raincoat
Sonnet 16 by Feng Zhi
This is the only translated poem on this list! I’ve been trying to read more poems that aren’t in English, but there are still so many prominent and famous poetry books in English that not reading them first feels like a crime. I can’t speak to the quality of the poem in Chinese, but the English translation hits so good. It’s a quiet meditation on human connectedness and how each part of everything and everyone we come across, no matter for how long, gets integrated into ourselves.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1256&context=transference
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
I need to preface this with the fact that if I could only stan one person for the rest of my life, it would be Mary Oliver. No hesitation. I love this poem. This poem is the one who got me started into poetry in the first place 3 years ago, and I come back to it every 2-3 months because it fills me with a desire to be alive. And I know this poem is so hyped and often quoted.
All that being said, the poem fucks. It slaps. It gets quoted a lot for a reason. These are some of the rawest lines I’ve ever read, and it feels so achingly human. Like:
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
What the actual hell? (I know that I’m not quoting and citing properly. I KNOW. But let me have this.) Anyways, I’m never going to be able to say anything coherent about it. But. You should read it in its entirety if you’ve only ever seen chunks and pieces of it.
http://www.phys.unm.edu/~tw/fas/yits/archive/oliver_wildgeese.html
Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare
This is the one and only Shakespeare poem I have on this list, so don’t worry. The only thing I have to say about this is that the line “It is the star to every wand'ring bark” goes so hard. I rest my case.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45106/sonnet-116-let-me-not-to-the-marriage-of-true-minds
Michiko Dead by Jack Gilbert
It’s such an interesting simile for grief and handling the death of a loved one and how to live on afterwards. The word “grief” is never mentioned in the poem at all, but it’s so apparent that I can almost taste it. There aren’t any particular words that hit you in the gut, and they’re all words that people use in day-to-day conversation for the most part. Instead, the poem is one smooth build up to the last few lines, and it’s as devastating as it is simple.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43407/michiko-dead
The Orange by Wendy Cope
This poem is so simple and YET. I have never wanted to be alive so much. Can you see a pattern here? Anyways, it’s another poem that makes existing worthwhile <3 not too much to say here.
https://gladdestthing.com/poems/the-orange
The Leash by Ada Limón
Humanity is awful and humanity is good. We’re living through an apocalypse that we (read: corporations and militaristic nations) caused but there is still something lovable and worth living for. Goddamn.
And my favorite lines: “Perhaps we are always hurtling our body towards / the thing that will obliterate us, begging for love / from the speeding passage of time.” I’m probably using this phrase too much, but this fucks.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/147505/the-leash
To the Man Who Shouted “I Like Pork Fried Rice” at Me on the Street by Franny Choi
Angry Asian women, my beloveds. Okay but genuinely, as an Angry Asian Woman, I felt this so hard. Maybe people of color who get catcalled should be allowed to commit one (1) murder free of charge (this is a JOKE pls don’t come for me <3). There is so much homicidal energy in this, and I 100% support her.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/56850/to-the-man-who-shouted-i-like-pork-fried-rice-at-me-on-the-street
The House by Warsan Shire
Did you know that I love women? Anyways, this poem is a single metaphor extended across 10 sections with underlying horror themes, and I can’t imagine anything I’d want more from a poem. There’s something to be said about the complexity of women and ownership over our bodies, but it’s 10:30 PM currently, and I lack the intellectual capability to write coherently even at 10:30 AM, so that’s all you’re going to get.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/90733/the-house-57daba5625f32
Lead by Mary Oliver
Yet another Mary Oliver poem, and this one is just as good but sadder. This is also another one of those “yes, the world is a little bit tragic, but we can choose to be good together” poems, and I’m a sucker for those.
https://wordsfortheyear.com/2020/06/18/lead-by-mary-oliver/
Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong by Ocean Vuong
I feel like no list of favorite poems would be complete without at least one poem by Ocean Vuong, and here’s mine. Do I understand a single thing about this? Not at all. But it made me feel an Emotion, so it belongs here. Full of unexpected and jarring metaphors and similes that make literally no fucking sense to me, but god, do they make me feel something.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/04/someday-ill-love-ocean-vuong
The Hush of the Very Good by Todd Boss
This is a fun one to read out loud! It just sits so well in my mouth, and Boss does a great job of playing with consonance and assonance and alliteration. Not too hyped about the content itself, but I wish I could listen to someone read it on repeat for 24 hours.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/49179/the-hush-of-the-very-good
Dear White America by Danez Smith
Another one that needs to be read out loud! And if you have the time, I would recommend watching Danez Smith’s recitation. This poem makes me upset and angry and sad in ways that I think everyone should be, and the poem itself is gorgeous. As someone who’s not black, I feel a little tentative about offering commentary, so I’ll just leave it at that!
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/150542/dear-white-america
love poem by Linda Pastan
I’m normally not a huge fan of love poems, but I enjoyed this one! In particular, I really liked the use of enjambment and repetition in the second half of the poem, and I think Pastan makes good on what she said she wanted to do in the first half. Another poem that needs to be read out loud!
https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2005%252F02%252F12.html
The Raincoat by Ada Limón
I am NOT immune to poems about parental love and neither are you <3 In all seriousness, this puts into words what I’ve felt but never been able to describe my whole life.
https://poets.org/poem/raincoat
Sonnet 16 by Feng Zhi
This is the only translated poem on this list! I’ve been trying to read more poems that aren’t in English, but there are still so many prominent and famous poetry books in English that not reading them first feels like a crime. I can’t speak to the quality of the poem in Chinese, but the English translation hits so good. It’s a quiet meditation on human connectedness and how each part of everything and everyone we come across, no matter for how long, gets integrated into ourselves.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1256&context=transference
