Celebrating National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and we booksellers at Old Town Books are so thrilled to be celebrating by sharing our favorite collections!
I dreaded poetry units in school. Poetry never made sense to me - why couldn’t the author just tell me what they wanted to say? Every poem I was asked to analyze felt like a puzzle that was missing several key pieces. How would I know if I was getting the right interpretation? I didn’t want to guess at meaning, I just wanted to know if I got the answer right.
A few years ago, I finally decided to dip my toe back into poetry. I checked out some collections that included analysis, which showed me how other people thought about poetry without the pressure of getting a right answer in class. But the thing that really cracked open poetry for me was Devotions by Mary Oliver, the omnibus of poems spanning her entire career that the poet edited herself.
I kept the collection on my desk while I worked from home during the pandemic. Whenever I needed a break, I’d read the next poem or five. It was the most refreshing break to just pause and think about nature. Sometimes a poem didn’t resonate with me, and that was fine. I just turned the page to the next one. I started putting tabs on the poems I liked the most so I could return to them.
Reading poetry is about vibes, which isn’t something I was taught in school. Does this poem make me feel something? Anything? If not, it’s just not for me! Now that I’m a poetry reader, I have loved swapping favorite poetry collections with my fellow booksellers, and in celebration of National Poetry Month, we wanted to share a few of our favorites with you!
Kai and I both love Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky. If you want a bit of narrative with your poetry, this is a great starting point. It’s set in a country under occupation and kicks off when soldiers kill a deaf boy during a protest. It talks about dissidence and how politics can shape our private lives as well. It’s a particularly resonant collection for our current times.
Anna and I are both huge fans of Above Ground by Clint Smith (who you might know as the author of How the Word is Passed). She says it best, noting that it’s particularly amazing for new(ish) parents but there is also a lot of commentary on social and political issues, as is Smith’s trademark.
Anna also shared The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón, as excellent for fans of Mary Oliver, with strong nature themes and broader reflections on family, loss, and longing. And if you want to celebrate National Poetry Month with your tweens, You Don’t Have to be Everything, an anthology edited by Diana Whitney, includes poems on topics ranging from body image to relationships to belonging & features big names like Margaret Atwood, Ada Limón, Sarah Kay, and Sharon Olds.
For kids, Melissa’s a huge proponent of introducing poetry early and often, perhaps with a poem a day over breakfast or dinner! Her latest crush is Words with Wings and Magic Things, for ages 5-9, where Matthew Burgess combines the playfulness of Shel Silverstein with the soulfulness of Marilyn Singer to give us ways of seeing the world anew. Bonus that Caldecott Medalist Doug Salati gives us full-color art so classically fanciful you’ll wish you could paper your walls with it! Speaking of all-star poet and artist pairings, another new favorite is How Elegant the Elephant: Poems About Animals and Insects, where former children's poet laureate Mary Ann Hoberman serves up a witty and rollicking collection of favorites from her six decades long career, with another Caldecott Medalist, Marla Frazee, supplying the whimsy!
Finally, Sarah and I swap poetry recommendations the most, often passing new advanced reading copies back and forth to find the best collections to share with you all! I can’t wait to check out the two collections she recommended when I mentioned that I was writing this blog post. The first, Life on Earth by Dorianne Laux, comes out in paperback in June. She told me: “I fell in love with Laux after reading ‘Facts About the Moon’ back in 2007. I love poetry in its ability to wake us up; to unearth and shed new light on the small parts of everyday life that we often hurry by, failing to notice. This collection mines the so often unexplored parts of our lives both in isolation and relation to others, everyday products (e.g., WD-40 and Bisquick!), and nature. Laux draws inspiration front he passing of time, aging, family, and the ephemerality of the natural world. This collection is accessible, life-affirming, and hopeful.”
The second is Sarah’s favorite collection of 2024, Instructions for Traveling West by Joy Sullivan. She says “I feel like Joy Sullivan is my soul sister. She earned a fan following for her prose poetry on Instagram and through her Substack newsletter Necessary Salt. This debut collection is immensely accessible, and these poems are for the reader who wants to relax into poetry and not be bound by rules or rigidity. IT’s a collection about intuition, embracing the unknown, taking risks, and finding joyful purpose. I appreciate the honest and vulnerability of these poems as well as the beautiful language and imagery. I promise if you are human, then there is something in this collection that will resonate deeply with you.”
I hope you’ll take these recommendations whether you’re a fan of poetry or just thinking about trying it again. We can’t wait to help you find the collection that unlocks poetry for you!
— Nicole, bookseller and book club leader