Anyone who has read my “Who and What I’m Looking For” post on this site may be aware that poetry is not a genre I represent. I know, I know. Your poetry is different, and it would force me to make an exception. I hear you. But the likelihood of selling a book of poems is somewhere between nil and nada, even for you. I love you, but it’s true. (See how that rhymed?)
And writing poetry, as a regular discipline or distraction, can work wonders for writers of every ilk—even those who are, sadly, ilkless. A poem in progress can incite new ideas and excite new ways of approaching a topic. A line of poetry may sometimes stick in the mind, suggesting a title or a snippet of dialogue. It can inject confidence or playfulness into a writer’s mind. It can even, on occasion, dispel writer’s block.
So, I recommend poetry to you; and, even though you didn’t ask, I herewith offer a baker’s dozen of my favorite poets:
1. William Shakespeare
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player …”
2. Robert Frost
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood …”
3. Emily Dickinson
“Each life converges to some centre/Expressed or still …”
4. Wendell Berry
“Even while I dreamed I prayed that what I saw was only fear and no foretelling …”
5. Mary Oliver
“I thought the earth remembered me …”
6. Gerard Manley Hopkins
“Glory be to God for dappled things …”
7. Robinson Jeffers
“The wild God of the world is sometimes merciful to those/That ask mercy, not often to the arrogant …”
8. Christina Rossetti
“Then He shall say, ‘Arise, My love,/My fair one, come away.'”
9. Albert Orsborn
“I know Thee who Thou art/And what Thy healing name …”
10. Edgar Lee Masters
“Out of me unworthy and unknown /The vibrations of deathless music …”
11. Richard Wilbur
“I can’t forget/How she stood at the top of that long marble stair/Amazed …”
12. George Herbert
“Who would have thought my shriveled heart/Could have recovered greenness?”
13. Ann Weems
“On the edge of war, one foot already in,/I no longer pray for peace:/I pray for miracles.”
How about you? Do you read poetry? Does it affect your writing? Who are your favorite poets?
Who Owns Whom in Publishing?
A new writer, a poet, joined our critique group. The first time she posted, I thought, “How do I critique this?” and felt out of my depth. In my other life, I’m a paraprofessional in a high school and not long after that, I subbed in a creative writing class. The teacher asked the kids to pick their favorite poems, read them aloud and had the class vote on their overall favorites. I realized if high school freshmen can do it, so can I!
You’re right, Bob. Poetry is good for our writing souls.
My poems are just an advert jingle,
ephemera to make you smile,
and when you do I get a tingle,
the knowing it was all worthwhile.
They touch a place that prose does not,
like music and like song;
so many novels read, forgot,
but I’ll remember far and long
W. B. Yeats’ doomed flier,
and Tennyson’s aged king,
Lee’s voice from hell’s dark fire,
and the waterboy, loyal Gunga Din
who put me on the rhyming road
to repay the debts of love they’re owed.
Yeats’, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57311/an-irish-airman-foresees-his-death
Tennyson, Ulysses https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45392/ulysses
Henry Lee, Fighting On https://warpoets.org.uk/worldwar2/poem/fighting/
Kipling, Gunga Din https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46783/gunga-din
One of the reasons I love this blog (aside of course from the brilliant posts) is the almost daily dose of poetic wisdom from my favorite poet, Andrew Budek Schmeisser. Good poetry is imbued with pure truth.
Sy, you just made my day. Thank you.
Robert Browning
“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be …”
Diana, I apologise in advance. Couldn’t resist once the first quatrain got stuck in my head.
Come along, grow old with me,
and be of boundless cheer!
The very best is yet to be,
for be’s the root of beer!
We’ll drink our way from Aldershot
down to Hay-on-Wye,
with other fools who have forgot
that one day they must die,
but up, the ladder, I’m aboard,
so let’s drink one to Jack
who was our very best lock-forward
and who died in the attack
upon Goose Green so long ago
in a war few care to know.
Listen to the song of that title by Mary Chapin Carpenter!!!
My previous attempt at a digital comment vanished into the digital abyss, so here’s a reconstruction, best as I can recall it. It’s pretty close.
My poetry’s an advert jingle,
ephemera to make you smile,
and when it does it gives a tingle,
knowing it was all worthwhile.
So many novels read, forgot,
but poetry’s a bit like like song
which bolt is never truly shot,
and some remembered long,
like W. B. Yeats’ doomed flier,
Tennyson’s old king,
Lee’s voice from hell’s fire,
and loyalty of Gunga Din
which put me on the rhyming road
to repay the debt of love they’re owed.
W. B. Yeats’, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
Tennyson, Ulysses
Henry Lee, Fighting On
Kipling, Gunga Din
And that’s why YOU are my favorite current poet, Andrew. I’m with Sy G— you may think you’re just writing simple poems that occasionally strike home, but I declare her that a daily dose of poetry from you, Andrew, is a reliable delight.
Karen, I am so honoured. Overwhelmed, really.
I love poetry and started my writing journey writing poetry. My favorites are Robert Frost, Mary Oliver, Ted Kooser, Billy Collins, and Emily Dickinson. I have a rhyming picture book coming out in October.
I agree! Great list of poets.
Alas, one reason why poetry does not sell is that not many people who write poetry buy it. They are enamored of their own poetry and write more. Fiction authors buy fiction, NF authors buy NF. They read one another’s books. Poetry authors should buy and read one another’s poetry more often.
The main poetry bought is rhyme for children. One of my books is rhymes for children (I do not have a good sense of rhythm so my husband and co-author fixed my rhythm).
Karen, I may be an outlier, but I do read others’ poems within my chosen style and genre. The fact that I am a living literary fossil (long live the long-dead Shakespearean sonnet!) means that what I buy is mainly by dead dudes.
I don’t re-visit my old poems. Ever. Mainly because I’ve written about six thousand of the darn things since 2019.
Conversely, I wrote a few novels, and had to give up reading fiction. I couldn’t cope with different sets of fake people living in my head.
You are right, the simple truth
Hi Karen, we’ve never met but I do hope you’ll allow me to address something you mentioned.) I am a newish faith poet and it has been my experience the last 10 ish years or so that poetry does sell because (at least the authors I know) read each others’ books and offer support in a myriad of ways, not the least of which is by purchasing each other’s books. This supportive community is one of the reasons I ventured into the poetry arena at all.
There are many of us out there! (you might find a few Christian poets by poking around on my site; I wrote about Five Female Poets of faith a number of years ago and it’s my most read post. Happy reading!)
Keats, Yeats (even though their names weirdly do not rhyme!), Longfellow, Shakespeare, Shelley, Browning and Barrett, Coleridge, Poe, Hardy (especially the spooky Convergence of the Twain,), Sir Philip Sidney (“… desire, desire, I have too dearly bought with price of mangled mind thy worthless wares”), Tennyson, Homer, and—top o’ the heap—John Milton, the poet who dared to attempt to explain the ways of God to man. Talk about epic “mansplaining”!!
But, Bob, may I ask if you think it’s a good thing authors employ a wide vocabulary these days? I am given to understand by publishers, agents, and other gurus that today’s commercial readership has a vocabulary on the level of 4th graders and colorful/unfamiliar words are usually edited to something mundane or commonplace so as to write to market. Could you comment on that please? I am genuinely confused.
Karen, great question. My insightful response is: “it depends.” How’s that? Seriously, in general, the more accessible and understandable a book is makes it marketable to a wider audience. But that doesn’t have to mean over-simplifying. We writers still have a lot of playground left to us.
I’m a fan and Oliver and Dickinson too, but my favorite line at the moment is from Albert Camus:
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”
Great post. Writing poetry taught me clarity, imagery, and economy in writing prose. Reading poetry leaves me amazed and inspired. I believe it is an essential foundation to all writing. So break out the verse, all you pen wielders, and hone your craft!
Don’t forget Denise Levertov! To Live In the Mercy of God is one of my favorite poems.
I thought that I would never see
An agent with such honesty
Whose blog post came out just in time
To inspire me to try to rhyme.
(Maybe I should stick to novels. 😊)
NO, Kay!
Write poetry!
This beloved poem is steeped in sadness, yet somehow calming in its truth. I’ve repeated the last line countless times over the years.
Nothing Gold Can Stay
By Robert Frost
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
“Send not to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” John Donne.
We spent many an evening reading poetry. Some made you think, some made you bold, some made you cry, and some made you laugh. We used to memorize poems to recite amongst ourselves and to our friends. As a boy, I particularly liked humorous poems like “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Thayer (“… there is no joy in mudville”), and thoughtful poems like “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer (“… poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree”). In junior high and high school, I liked Richard Lovelace: “To Lucasta on Going to the Wars” “… I could not love thee, dear, so much, loved I not honor more;” and “To Althea from Prison” “… stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.” But my favorite since grade school has been “In the Days When the Cattle Ran” by Hamlin Garland. A funny poem that my girls loved and memorized was “The Embarrassing Episode of Little Miss Muffet” by Guy Wetmore Carryl.
I appreciate this Blog post immensely. Each morning, I search for Andrew’s poetry to lift us “Skyborne.” I have many favorites: William Blake, Dylan Thomas, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, Maxine Kumin, and Maya Angelou.
Poetry, like music, is the language of the heart. My poetry becomes a “best-seller” when the people I share it with express how it moved them. My church of 7,000 people alone would make it a good selling prospect. Plus family and friends who would buy my poetry book out of allegiance to me would give it a good return for my money investment.
Torie
I like William Blake and John Donne poems. I love accessible poetry
Several nights a week I go to bed, plug on the headphones, crank the music, and write silly little poemies for my sanity, and social media. You’re correct, Bob–It’s free therapy to let it out, and entertain the peeps. No worry or stress, in the moment, frees my mind to wonder into that carefree territory of artistic freedom = Ahh
So appreciated this post, Bob. Poet here (3 poetry chapbooks so far), avid poetry reader and writer. I love the exercise and it has helped my writing enormously. I use it as part of my devotional times and it’s like eating fine chocolate after prose. One delicious word from the Lord I’ve kept close to my heart: “There’s more to being a poet than writing poetry.”
One of my faves: Galway Kinnell, entitled Prayer:
Whatever happens. Whatever
what is is is what
I want. Only that. But that.
Blessings to you for acknowledging poetry!
I love poetry, even on occasion when it makes me think hard! I like to write my own, even sad ones make me happy! Here’s a stanza of a song I wrote.
Why do the stars lie in velvet beds?
Is there an order to space?
The seasons can only respond to command.
While we are maintained by good grace.
I wrote two lines of poetry after every chapter in a book series about to be published. This is my favorite.
When the dusky blue twilight lies soft on the earth, and the birds sing their song of rest.
Gather the glittering dust of the night to sprinkle the dreams of the blest.
One thing nice is the more I write my own poetry the more I want to read others!
My favorite poem is “Whatever Is — Is Best”, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. It’s a great expansion on Romans 8:28.
Once they understand it students write wonderful poetry. A few years ago, a group of senior girls in my classroom (who were studying to be EMT’s while attending class – including ambulance runs with certified medical personnel at night) fell in love with sestinas and wrote them the rest of the year whenever they had a free-choice writing. One I remember really well was about how they had no time to eat during their hectic days, except from vending machines and the irony of how medical training caused some pretty unhealthy practices. It was hilarious. One of those girls won a poetry contest in another city. I still hear from them from time to time, and while they are in medical careers, they are still writers. The discipline that makes poetry such a fine writing tool is that it becomes necessary to find precisely the right word in the right context to make the poem effective. I am so grateful to God that I got to work with student writers. They are amazing.
I love to read and write poetry. It is kind of tough in the writing world though, because it often feels like everyone else is writing novels and when I say I write poetry I become the black sheep in the room. It’s great to hear so many comments from others who read and write poetry!
Something that really blows me away by great poetry is how much can be conveyed in so few words. Unlike a novel, a poem usually has a very short amount of space, so you really have to write concise and not babble or waste words. As Emily Dickinson said, “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”
Bob, a reader and blog follower sent me this blogpost and I’m so thankful! I began writing poetry in earnest after dancing around the periphery of other faith poets and then just dove in. I self-published my first book (2021) and my newest title was just published by a small press.
I’m so glad you wrote this for any and all writers–reading poetry is such an inspiration, true!
Some of my very favorites:
(all contemporary-ish)
Malcolm Guite
Barbara Crooker
Jen Stewart
Laurie Klein
Scott Cairns
Seamus Heaney
Richard Wilbur–thanks for including him on your list
and the classics:
GM Hopkins
George Herbert
Christina Rosetti
Emily Dickinson
so many good poets to choose from!