"Poetry is not a civilizer, rather the reverse, for great poetry appeals to the most primitive instincts. It is not necessarily a moralizer; it does not necessarily improve one’s character; it does not even teach good manners. It is a beautiful work of nature, like an eagle or a high sunrise. You owe it no duty. If you like it, listen to it; if not, let it alone."
-- Robinson Jeffers
1. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
"Allons! whoever you are come travel with me! Traveling with me you find what never tires. The earth never tires, The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first, Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first, Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop’d, I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell."
2. The Last Night of the Earth Poems by Charles Bukowski
"there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there."
3. All of Us: The Collected Poems by Ramond Carver
"Cool summer nights. Windows open. Lamps burning. Fruit in the bowl. And your head on my shoulder. These the happiest moments in the day. Next to the early morning hours, of course. And the time just before lunch. And the afternoon, and early evening hours. But I do love these summer nights. Even more, I think, than those other times. The work finished for the day. And no one who can reach us now. Or ever."
4. The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers
"Then what is the answer?- Not to be deluded by dreams.
To know that great civilizations have broken down into violence,
and their tyrants come, many times before.
When open violence appears, to avoid it with honor or choose
the least ugly faction; these evils are essential.
To keep one's own integrity, be merciful and uncorrupted
and not wish for evil; and not be duped
By dreams of universal justice or happiness. These dreams will
not be fulfilled..."
5. Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
"You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on..."
6. A Wild Peculiar Joy: The Selected Poems by Irving Layton
"O not remembering her derision of me, I plunge like a corkscrew into her softness, her small wicked body, and there, beyond reproach, I roar like a sick lion between her breasts."
7. The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke
"A madman staring at perpetual night, A spirit raging at the visible, I breathe alone until my dark is bright. Dawn's where the white is. Who would know the dawn When there's a dazzling dark behind the sun?"
8. Jim Harrison: The Essential Poems
"I feel my failure intensely as if it were a vital organ the gods grew from the side of my head. You can't cover it with a hat and I no longer can sleep on that side it's so tender. I wasn't quite faithful enough to carry this sort of weight up the mountain. When I took my vows at nineteen I had no idea that gods were so merciless. Fear makes for good servants and bravery is fraudulent. When I awoke I wasn't awake enough."
9. Collected Poems of Jack Gilbert
"Suddenly this defeat. This rain. The blues gone gray And the browns gone gray And yellow A terrible amber. In the cold streets Your warm body. In whatever room Your warm body. Among all the people Your absence The people who are always Not you. I have been easy with trees Too long. Too familiar with mountains. Joy has been a habit. Now Suddenly This rain."
10. A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe: Selected Poems by Fernando Pessoa
"I’m already my future corpse. Only a dream links me to myself — The hazy and belated dream Of what I should have been — a wall Around my abandoned garden. Take me, passing waves, To the oblivion of the sea Bequeath me to what I won’t be — I, who raised a scaffold Around the house I never built."
11. The Collected Poems: A Bilingual Edition by Federico García Lorca
"And I who was walking with the earth at my waist, saw two snowy eagles and a naked girl. The one was the other and the girl was neither."
Thanks for this. There are a couple of poets Here I’m not familiar with, and I will definitely check them out. I'm happy to see Lorca made the list. I don't know how you can choose only 11, though. What about Robert Penn Warren? Baudelaire? There are so many.
I appreciate these recommendations. Thank you so much. I keep growing, absorbing…