I don’t write poetry, but I love reading it. I have quite a few collections that I keep close to my heart, and nothing compares to the power of a good poem in making me see the world differently or opening up the ways language can be employed. As the weather starts getting warmer and the cherry blossoms start blooming, I get even more in the mood to sit in the sun and read poetry. If you feel similarly and want to get more into poetry, I’ve curated a list of some of my favorite poetry collections that I think are great for getting started with and especially fit the contemplative mood of the spring season. Whether you’re in the mood for classic or contemporary, there’s something here for you to fall in love with.
- Felicity by Mary Oliver (2015)
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Mary Oliver is such a widely-beloved poet for a reason. Felicity is a charming and compact collection that is perfect for springtime and for falling in love, and her poems hold truisms that I try to carry with me wherever I go.
Highlights: “Moments,” “Nothing Is Too Small Not to Be Wondered About,” “The First Day,” “I Know Someone,” “How Do I Love You?”
- The Carrying by Ada Limón (2018)
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The Carrying, a National Book Critics Circle Award Winner, is a tender and thoughtful poetry collection by contemporary poet Ada Limón. Like Oliver, Limón’s verse also contains a lot of natural imagery that is perfect for springtime and growth. Her contemplations on identity, motherhood, grief and life in its all messy complexities are sorely needed in these uncertain times.
Highlights: “The Leash,” “Notes on the Below,” “Instructions on Not Giving Up,” “Maybe I’ll Be Another Kind of Mother,” “What I Didn’t Know Before,” “Love Poem With Apologies for My Appearance”
- Poems for the Bee Charmer (And Other Familiar Ghosts) by Jordan Lentz (2022)
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Jordan Lentz, who I am lucky enough to know personally, has crafted a nostalgic and deeply personal poetry collection that feels timeless. I’m sure that almost everyone can find something to relate to or love within these pages, and the often wistful and melancholic tone of the collection is perfect for the sadder side of spring.
Highlights: “The Power to Laugh Roses as I Weep Gold,” “Laundry Room,” “February in Boston,” “Small Love,” “When Harry Met Sally”
- Diving Into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich (1973)
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Diving Into the Wreck encompasses Adrienne Rich’s poems from 1971-1972, and it’s my favorite collection of hers that I’ve read. A lesbian feminist thinker and poet, Rich is one of the most well-known academics who was writing in the second half of the 20th century. This collection explores, metaphorically and literally, the wreck of society, and Rich is unafraid to plumb the depths and think about love, loneliness, anger and other dark and complicated emotions and topics.
Highlights: “Incipience,” “After Twenty Years,” “Song,” “Diving Into the Wreck,” “For the Dead”
- If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho by Anne Carson (2002)
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If you’re in the mood for some truly classical poetry, look no further than If Not, Winter. Sappho, an ancient Greek poet whose words survive mostly in fragments, is translated lovingly and skillfully by Anne Carson in this collection. You may think that reading and understanding ancient Greek poetry would be difficult, but Carson makes it almost effortless. The gaps in the original text allow for new reverberations of Sappho’s words, and the collaboration between Sappho and Carson across centuries is masterful.
Highlights: Fragment 22, Fragment 24A, Fragment 31, Fragment 48, Fragment 94, Fragment 147