# Recommend books of poetry **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2005, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325 "2005-09-25T09:09:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/1 "2005-09-25T09:09:29Z")
Or even just the poems. I don’t know if the Cafe Society frowns down upon asking for information for completely selfish reason, but thats what this is. I don’t plan on fighting ignorance with these poems. I plan on reciting them to a girl. ---
**Author:** ![Jillyvn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Jillyvn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jillyvn)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/2 "2005-09-25T12:35:44Z")
In the interest of love… here’s my fav. I almost went to bed without remembering the four white violets I put in the button-hole of your green sweater and how i kissed you then and you kissed me shy as though I’d never been your lover - Leonard Cohen ---
**Author:** ![gaucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@gaucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaucho)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/3 "2005-09-25T14:35:21Z")
Look at Shakespeare’s sonnets, maybe some Marlowe, and check out Donne’s love poems. There’s one called “The Flea” or somesuch which is pretty hot. ---
**Author:** ![Lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@Lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lola)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/4 "2005-09-25T15:07:30Z")
Andrew Marvel’s “To His Coy Mistress” is designed to get women into bed (through making them scared of dying, rather disturbingly). Shakespeare’s sonnets are a more conventional approach. Personally, I’d play 'er some Barry White. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/5 "2005-09-25T15:37:44Z")
My favorites are Wallace Stevens and Robert Frost. ---
**Author:** ![MsMitey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@MsMitey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsMitey)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/6 "2005-09-25T15:49:21Z")
Maybe I’m weird, but my husband snagged me with Billy Collins, Alice Fulton, and Sarah Manguso. They’re all contemporary, and wonderful. Arguably, Billy Collins is more of a sure thing than Whitman or Shakespeare combined. Oh, and if she’s really weird, and has a good sense of humor, try Letters to Wendy by Joe Wenderoth. Might want to skim that one over at the bookstore first, though. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/7 "2005-09-25T15:52:58Z")
> [@MsMitey](#): > > Arguably, Billy Collins is more of a sure thing than Whitman or Shakespeare combined. What does it mean to be “a sure thing” in poetry? ---
**Author:** ![misshannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3e96dc/32.png) [@misshannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misshannah)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/8 "2005-09-25T16:04:45Z")
> [@teemingONE](#): > > I don’t plan on fighting ignorance with these poems. I plan on reciting them to a girl. Two words: PABLO NERUDA ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/9 "2005-09-25T16:09:27Z")
Oh, I see now about the “sure thing.” In that case, some of e.e. cummings is pretty good. It worked for Michael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters. But then, Pablo Neruda worked for that guy in Il Postino. ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/10 "2005-09-25T16:57:14Z")
> [@misshannah](#): > > Two words: PABLO NERUDA Oh yes. Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche _Tonight I can write the saddest lines._ Escribir, por ejemplo: ‘La noche está estrellada, y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos’. _Write, for example, ‘The night is shattered and the blue stars shiver in the distance’._ And another vote for E.E. Cummings. Try _it may not always be so_ and _somewhere i have never travelled_. Also, Yehuda Amichai. Try [Tourists](http://plagiarist.com/poetry/2175/). ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/11 "2005-09-25T17:19:51Z")
The first gift **Stonebow** ever gave me was a book of poetry and letters by Ranier Maria Rilke. He wrote a beautiful inscription inside the cover, which I won’t share due to it’s personal nature, but you might think of giving the gift of a book of poetry, as well, with your own personal message inside to accompany it. And in passing, I’ll share [Love Song](http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/4027/lovesong.html) by Rilke ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/12 "2005-09-25T17:56:07Z")
I really enjoyed [Good Poems](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0142003441/qid=1127671684/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0838576-5285423?v=glance&s=books&n=507846), edited by Garrison Keillor. There were lots of poems in there I hadn’t read before (mostly modern stuff) and lots of them were really good. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/13 "2005-09-25T18:22:02Z")
> [@Archergal](#): > > I really enjoyed [Good Poems](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0142003441/qid=1127671684/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0838576-5285423?v=glance&s=books&n=507846), edited by Garrison Keillor. There were lots of poems in there I hadn’t read before (mostly modern stuff) and lots of them were really good. Second. I found a poem in the first or second of Keillor’s books (can’t remember which) that I’m going to have someone read at our wedding. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/14 "2005-09-25T19:24:47Z")
Rilke is great, so is Cummings. ---
**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/15 "2005-09-26T01:36:26Z")
Thanks for the help all, I especially like **FaerieBeth** suggestion, I think I may do that as a present as well. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/16 "2005-09-26T01:39:26Z")
Good instincts. You can’t go wrong with Rilke. It’s the side-one-of-Led-Zeppelin-4 of poetry. ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/17 "2005-09-26T07:11:30Z")
Ah. Think of it like a meal. Start off gently with a little Robert Herrick, innocent, but full of repressed desire > [@](#): > > A sweet disorder in the dress/Kindles in clothes a wantonness: . Then a little foreplay, perhaps John Donne, “To his Mistris Going to Bed” > [@](#): > > Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime/Tells me from you that now it is bed-time. Then something a little more erotic, perhaps e e cummings, > [@](#): > > i like kissing this and that of you,/i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz/of your electric fur, and what-is-it comes/over parting flesh. . . . And eyes big love-crumbs, And then perhaps John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, “A Ramble in St James Park”, neither innocent nor repressed. To finish, well, depends on how you feel. If it’s love then perhaps Mary Oliver’s “At Blackwater Pond” > [@](#): > > I hear them/deep inside me, whispering/oh what is that beautiful thing/that just happened? . Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/18 "2005-09-26T09:19:25Z")
> [@teemingONE](#): > > Recommend books of poetry Ted Hughes, Life and Songs of the Crow. > [@](#): > > I plan on reciting them to a girl. Oops, maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-of-poetry/323325/19 "2005-09-26T15:03:02Z")
> [@teemingONE](#): > > Or even just the poems. > > I don’t know if the Cafe Society frowns down upon asking for information for completely selfish reason, but thats what this is. I don’t plan on fighting ignorance with these poems. I plan on reciting them to a girl. Well, it kind of depends on your girl. For some academic types, that old-style Marvell and Shwakespeare might do it. I think most modern girls would be wowed by a bit more, um, modern and viutal language. The problem with modern poets is that they don’t have a reputation set in stone yet, so you have to know their work to know how it would feel. The single most romantic “modern” poem I can recall is this, by Ezra Pound: [The River-Merchant’s Wife: a Letter](http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/70.html). For a realistic (read:cynical) view of modern love, where the poet’s cynicism duels with his desire, try Kenneth Fearing’s [Love, 20 cents the first quarter-mile](http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/fearing/additional_poems.htm). Poetry can work very well to set the mood without being expressly about romantic love. Poetry that has good sound when read aloud can be very moving, and quicken the pulse and focus interest. Sensual poetry (“sensual” in the sense of being alive to sensation) with arresting images works very well to open us up to possibilities and moods. In general term, my personal favorite modern poet is [Sharon Olds](http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/olds/olds.htm). Although she has some graphic sexual poems, more of her work is very direct, honest, and with a sharp twist at the end – she “finishes well”. [Cambridge Elegy](http://www.sundress.net/stirring/archives/v3/e10/oldss.htm) is one of her love poems, albeit to a lost love. Also, although I can’t find them on the Web, _The Signal_, _The Race_, and _Gerbil Funeral_ are very moving, and there are surprises throughout her work. Don’t be put off by her early anger against her parents – although it dominstes her ealry books, she does other topics, and eventually comes to terms. If you’re interested, dig around for her books, they’re currently in print. For pure awareness of the senses, Elizabeth Bishop’s [The Fish](http://www.simonhuggins.com/uricon/classic/bishop_elizabeth/fish.htm) is hard to beat. Sailboat