I read a lot of poetry because I love poetry & I adore poets. I fan-girl over poets, get giddy about readings and pre-order poetry collections. I have been known to mail extra copies of my favorite collections out to friends and family. I try to find the perfect poet my students can “vibe” with, but most of all I love poetry because of all the things it doesn’t say. Great poetry highlights a truth that, until that moment of reading, you could not describe. If someone asks me how I am feeling, often I can’t find the words, often I just want to send them a poem and be like I feel like this!
In college my english professor Laurie Kutchins assigned Terrance Hayes’ Muscular Music and it changed the trajectory of my life. It showed me what poetry could be, poetry from a person of color, poetry that I saw myself in.
Now I am not here to say what poetry is or isn’t, that is an entire essay in itself, but I am here to share the poets who have changed my decade. Poets I did not know about in 2010 and now I have read every single chapbook, poetry collection or poem by them. Poets who I am sure will continue to write verse that challenges and inspires.
You will notice the juggernauts are missing from this list. I discovered Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Maya Angelou, Rita Dove, Gwendolyn Brooks and countless other stunning poets before 2010. These greats have been dropping truths for a long while.
I did not number the poets on this list. I don’t think one is “better” than the other and I do think the idea of “better” and “best” is a bit worn out. Each of this poets wrote poems that taught me about craft, form, and the incredible depth in sparsity. In short, all of these poets startled my soul and taught me more than my entire MFA program did. I appreciate everyone on this list and if you are trying to read more poetry in 2020, any of these poets is a good place to start.
This list, like most end of year list, is very unique to me and my experience reading poetry. I hope to discover even more spectacular poets in this coming decade. I linked each poets website or twitter account and links to where you can buy their books!
- Terrance Hayes: Here’s the thing I love every single one of Terrance Hayes’ collections, but Lighthead really got me. If you want a little taste of how brilliant the collection is check out the poem “Lighthead’s Guide to the Galaxy”…when you spend your nights/ out on a limb there’s a change you’ll fall in your sleep.
- Jericho Brown: I can’t say enough about Jericho Brown. The first collection I ever read was Please, which hit me in the gut. The Tradition is just a wonder in craft and form! The poem “The Crossing” gives me goosebumps every time I read it…I am not crossing, to cross back….
- Elizabeth Acevedo: The Poet X, a YA novel in verse, has won countless awards, but don’t sleep on Acevedo’s chapbook collection, Beast Girl & Other Origin Myths is also extraordinary.
- Alysia Harris: I first discovered Alysia Harris through The Strivers Row Youtube Channel. Then I saw the performance of “The Happy Couple: Death Poem” and I have been a fan ever since. You can buy Alysia’s chapbooks here!
- Nayyirah Waheed: Brevity with depth is a talent only a few poets possess and all I am going to say is salt. is brilliant and everyone should read it.
- Tracey K. Smith: In 2011 Life on Mars came out. Read it. Study it. Live with it. Love it. Also Tracey was named the Poet Laureate of the US in 2017.
- Danez Smith: Yall are not ready for this poet. In 2014 [insert] boy came out, followed by Don’t Call Us Dead which had me weeping and screaming. Homie comes out in January and I am very excited to read it!
- Saeed Jones: Prelude to Bruise investigates pain in a way that leaves me breathless and staggering. I knew I was in for a ride with this collection and you will feel a little bruised after reading it. How We Fight For Our Lives came out last year, it is a stunning memoir.
- Fatimah Asghar: Debut collection If They Come For Us! The voice is so fierce! The form often pushes boundaries and it is partly autobiographical and examines identity. This is a collection that really sticks to your bones and has you thinking about it weeks after you finish reading it.
- Nate Marshall: Wild Hundreds has a bittersweet feeling that stitches through the entire collection. ALSO if I am remembering correctly, the last poem in the collection is the same as the first except in reverse, which is crazy and amazing.
- Ilya Kaminsky: Deaf Republic came out in March and I have not been the same. “At the trial of God, we will ask: why did you allow all this?And the answer will be an echo: why did you allow all this?”
I am realizing that this list could be endless. There are so many other poets I greatly admire. I feel like I should stop at 11 though. One for each year of the decade and one for luck.
Good luck in this new decade. May you thrive, may you live, live, live.