Will my poetry recommendations make you believe a poem is worth your time?

For World Poetry Day, I draw your attention to a slowly diminishing but astonishing artform. Some would say,  poetry is highly emotional short fiction. Others would say, poetry is song without instruments and creates its own melody and rhythm. Poetry is the use of language to express the inexpressible, the complex human condition, to move a person, to entertain a consumer; one and the same in today's modern experience of The Arts.

Poetry is storytelling.

poetry is activism.

Poetry is an invaluable cultural tool that we cannot allow to die out.

Read a poem and you keep an ancient human tradition alive for another day.

Reading poetry can be a puzzle to scrutinise, or a story to be swept away by. Writing poetry is wordplay at its finest. As an amateur poet, I would say, writing poetry is a game, a purging, and a compulsion. Like playing chess with yourself. The choice to publish can be an afterthought. In today’s commercial writing world, longform novels reign supreme, and where literary critics gush over ‘beautiful prose’. The poet’s artistry is where the most beautiful prose can be found (yes, a prose poem is a category), and is much more difficult to execute, more restricted, more abstract and more daring linguistically. If the novel is a cruise ship, the poem is a sailing yacht. Go on a cruise for the usual week or two and the entertainment consistency is predictable. Go on a sailboat for a day and you will be often surprised and often drenched, gasping in shock, outrage or rapture. Upon which watercraft, did you really live?

Will my year of poetry recommendations make you believe a poem is worth your time over other forms of storytelling?

Our culture also worships songs yet dismiss what songs are without instrumental accompaniment, often pieces of poetry put to beats. Songs can have poetry. Our culture dismisses rhyming poetry as juvenile (unless sung by a tough-looking rapper or primped pop star) yet lots of the most cringe-worthy rhyming is in contemporary music pop charts. Alas, the fickle hearts of the modern masses. All hearts are juvenile, that is what I surmise.

A century ago, poets whose poems happen to rhyme were as famous as contemporary rock stars. Rudyard Kipling comes to mind, who was a diverse ‘word artist’ and wrote poetry, novels, short stories and essays. I hope the time for poetry rises again and this epoch is just a lull as with many artistic journeys, there are peaks and troughs.

Today, readers and listeners want value for money, the 250-page novel is what people expect not 90 pages of ‘high oral art’ for the same price. The economies and efficiencies of capitalism are demolishing artistic diversity, when apples are not oranges, round pegs not for square holes. Literary art is anything but one size fits all. Poetry may not be as popular today as a century ago or a millennia ago, but it exists steadfast in a corner of literature that is dominated by pulp fiction or Bestseller lists.

Playwrights, also in the past, received more fame than poets. It is the nature of the spectacle. For this, I cherish poetry for it doesn’t need props and actors to impart stories. Poetry is for anyone. Poetry is entertainment distilled in a few lines or pages. In these time-poor days and with so much content saturation, much of it mediocre, poetry should be taking centre stage in your entertainment ‘go-to’s.

So, where to start my frolic through a year of poetry recommendations?

For anyone new to the genre, I recommend listening to Stephen Fry’s book, The Ode Less Travelled, where you get to hear his sharp intellect and his soothing, grandfatherly voice reciting iconic poetry between teaching what makes poems great, alongside urging you to create, with activities at the end of each chapter.

CLASSIC POETRY ANTHOLOGIES

For something that requires less concentration, a great poetry anthology has something for everyone. If you don’t like one poem, then skip to the next, or pick a place at random, read one a day, read ten in one gulp. Unlike an 8-hour novel, you can snack on poetry, anytime. Are you waiting for your takeaway coffee order? Take in a poem. Sitting in a waiting room? Take in a poem. Waiting in a queue? Take in a poem. Stacking the dishwasher? Take in a poem. Unlike long-form fiction, you will not lose your momentum if interrupted within 5 minutes, or lose an entire day binge reading for the next twist or cliffhanger. Poetry provides more regular satisfaction, and more surprises, every page has surprise in poetry. Now, that is value for money.

Here are six poetry anthologies I recommend:

The Drifted Stream (Audible original audiobook 2023 - and not in print for a very good reason)

The laureate poet (1999 – 2009) Andrew Motion has created ‘The Drifted Stream; the first anthology of its kind compiled for a listening audience rather than a reading audience…reminds us of some very old principles in poetry…before the invention of the book and especially before books became widely available and affordable, various forms of oral poetry were the only kinds that existed, and people were entirely used to absorbing what they thought were important or valuable about poetry by hearing it spoken aloud.’ 

There are more than a dozen voices in this 15-hour recording. Plus, unlike some audiobooks, the chapters have clear headings so you can easily skip around, following your fancies. Chapters are introduced with instrumental music of each epoch such as Middle English (think skin drums and wooden flutes) to Metaphysicals and Milton (think 17th century wood wind, harpsicord and lute) to finish with nine poems from Post-War British poets of colour (electronic keyboards, of course). I was besotted and I am very grateful this audio art was compiled. Thank you, Andrew Motion and all the poets he highlights.

Love is Strong as Death (2021)

Australia’s greatest contemporary folk singer, Paul Kelly, now a wizened musical genius, understands that story and sound come together to create musical magic. His inspiration in his musicality and song writing comes from a multitude of sources including poets. Paul Kelly compiled a 500-page book of poetry covering a timespan of about 2,500 years, and it’s a marvel that I keep returning too. He also arranged it in non-chronological order so each page is a different experience. Each guaranteed to make you feel your humanity; the best and worst of it. I mention a few poems in a previous blog ‘Australia's greatest bard shows me the singular human experience during The Voice referendum.’

The Rattle Bag (1982)

I love a good literary bread crumb trail, and Paul Kelly’s anthology references The Rattle Bag, an anthology compiled by prized poets Seamus Heaney (turned down Poet Laureate! Accepted Nobel prize in 1995) and Ted Hughes (Poet laureate in 1984). I was very excited find a used copy at Archive Fine Books in Brisbane on my annual browse. Some books just find you. They want to go to a good home. Any anthology compiled by a Poet Laureate is worth a look. There are quite a few when you consider Poet Laureates are publicly recognised by a nation or an institution as the crème de la crème of poem mastery. The British royal household has a PL, universities can have PLs, even bookshops can have a PL (like Fullers Bookshop Café in Hobart, who obviously take their poetry shelves very seriously, and for that they receive my esteem.)

The Map and The Clock (2016)

When most of the poetic words ever written in the English language are by men, I am delighted to recommend a collection edited by two female Poet Laureates; Carol Ann Duffy, Great Britain’s Poet Laureate (2009-19) and Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales (2008–16). What a century to be alive, ladies! It is still worth acknowledging these eminent poets are working with what they have through history so this collection which starts from the year 600 AD still has mainly male voices, but I'd like to think, also a woman’s good sense and sensibility in its composition.

A Poem For… Series (2017-)

The author, or should I say, anthologist, Ellie Esiri has been a very busy poetry curator. She has compiled no less than nine anthologies in as many years. I will assume she has no time to be a published poet, instead spreading far and wide her appreciation for poetry also in a range of mediums off the printed page; in mobile apps, and in theatres. Like any good antique dealer she had no time to sit at a pottery wheel. I enjoyed listening to A Poem for Every Day of the Year read by four famous voices including Helen Bonham Carter.

Macmillan Collectors Library

Lastly, because otherwise this blog will go on forever if I include all the poetry anthologies I admire. I adore the tiny, cute, gold-edged pages of the Macmillan Collectors Library. One day, I will collect them all!

NEW POETRY COLLECTIONS

Supporting new and/or under-represented poetry is also important. Indie publishers who circulate poetry continue to exist today, though many are not-for-profits (gasp), and without public funds they would be extinguished. Yet these micro-publishing houses bring more diverse and less commercial literature to the mainstream, like regional poetry. For that I am immensely grateful. Several such Australian publications are below (that struck me as gorgeous from first sighting of their book covers). There are more recent ones I could list here, but these I own and have read.

• The Jaguar by Sarah Holland-Batt (UQP, 2022)

• Where We Are by Alison Flett (Cordite Publishing, 2022)

• Second Fleet Baby by Nadia Rhook (Fremantle Press, 2022)

• how to make a basket by Jazz Money (UQP, 2021)

Here are some more poetry books on my constantly scanning ‘new book radar’:

• mark the dawn by Jazz Money (UQP, 2024)

• Refugia by Elfie Shiosaki (Magabala Books, 2024)

• Giramondo Publishing 2024 poetry series.

Giramondo Publishing Poetry Series

A SPECIAL MENTION GOES TO...

Before the invention of the printing press made words so accessible, poetry had an oral history. For this I turn to my audiobooks. I already mentioned The Drifted Stream and A Poem for Every Day of the Year. Finally, The Lost Words is an absolute delight to listen to accompanied by music and nature sounds and read by many voices. They are poems written in 2017, as a call out to the words 'disappearing from children’s lives' such as many animals and plants (like dandelion and otter) being removed from the latest editions of children dictionaries, due to their lack of use. The book is an urgent call that children today still need to know the names of their wild neighbours even though they tend to spend more time indoors and on digital screens. Poetry as activism, is there any other kind to more admire?

Where's all the poetry? Fewer words are more costly, “Don’t capitalise on my poetry”

Have you ever wondered why there are so many reprints of old and famous poetry rather than new poetry? It’s not because the antiquated poetry is better (well, maybe in some cases, you decide). Capitalism strikes again. It’s because book publishers don’t have to pay dead poets as much. Poet Andrew Motion who curated the above-mentioned anthology, The Drifted Stream, sums up the dilemma,

‘Due to the costs of permission fees (not that I wish to denigrate permission fees as they are very necessary things). I have confined the scope of the anthology to the Middle Ages (when English language emerged that is easily understood today) and the end of the First World War (1917).’

 Oh dear. I’m sure the same problem appears in radio and Spotify for paying dead musicians (though they often have estates who collect) as well as for really dead musicians (a capitalising audio producer’s meal ticket).

Along this theme, I’d like to conclude my frolic through poetry for World Poetry Day by suggesting firstly to support actual breathing poets who can’t eat air (though I’m sure some days they have tried and probably wrote a poem about it). Nonetheless, secondly take the time to relish poems that have lasted through the ages, because plenty are forgotten, to help understand your place in the world today, how society became this way, how humanity is expressed by poet's with huge hearts and clever heads through the ages, as I believe, the human condition has not changed.

Celebrate 'World Poetry Day' Everyday

Find a quiet corner and read a poem to yourself, or better yet recite poems to anyone who will listen. A poet busker, now that would be cool. Why do poets have to be confined to an Open Mic night? Are we greedy as a culture to expect busking poet’s to also play a musical instrument and write music? Singer-songwriters are just poets with dexterous fingers, creatives who go where they get paid - so they can eat. If I find a poet in a pub corner backed by their electronic tracking loops, ticking in time with the classic pentameter of a beating heart? A rhythm poet’s set over the past half millennia. Now, I’d listen to that!

Let’s keep this beautiful art form alive, one of the best expressions of the human soul. I don’t have time to find a poignant quote by a poet who probably said it even better, but you will come across one if you just take a little time to insert a little soundbite of poetry into your daily grind. Spotify also has playlists if you aren’t an Audible member. There is even a Spoken Word Poetry Mix and Slam poetry Mix ‘made for you’.

Want more poetic inspiration? Check out my recent blog, ‘The first female in history to poetically translate Homer’s two ancient epic poems.’ See why translating one of the longest poems in a dead language is both a musical puzzle and a tongue twister that will move you to goose flesh and spinal shivers, as for the author, Professor Emily Wilson,

‘like Athena suddenly tugging Achilles by the hair to stop him in his tracks’.

Now, wouldn’t you read or listen to any poem that does that?