The most recommended books about poets

I found this book to have amazing detail, considering it goes back a long way, and I don’t know how John remembered it all. It’s an entertaining and intriguing book about his life and his amazing, honest story about becoming a performing poet, his battle with addiction, and his unique route to cult status.

This brief tale offers a profound exploration of an artist's inner journey. It delves into the insecurities and fears that often haunt creative minds.

The protagonist's quest for inspiration, intertwined with a surprising twist involving her beloved poet, adds captivating layers to the narrative. It elegantly portrays the elusive essence of art, where the artist's intent can diverge from the audience's perception.

As an artist, I found it deeply relatable—a poignant reminder of the intricate dynamics within our creative pursuits. This narrative is a valuable gift to fellow artists, beautifully articulating the pursuit of visibility and the complex interplay between creator and audience.

Kornei Chukovsky, leading Russian children’s poet, in his book From Two to Five, describes children’s “whimsical, elusive thinking—original, picturesque, amusing speech.” "Children two to five are earth’s most inquisitive creatures with questions evoked by the mind’s tireless need to comprehend its surroundings.” I know of no other author who so brilliantly captures children’s own words. I read this book over and over for inspiration.

In being faithful to the ‘first’ books I ever read The Ship That Flew and The Adventures of Henry Penn. Henry Penn is a Penguin and daydreamer. He wants to be a poet. Some of the story involves his creative life writing/reciting from his ‘secret’ little book the “Lays of Ancient Penland.” The close of the story recounts an episode after the Kipper War when there is a celebration concert and Henry performs his first poem!

The town’s people (Penguins) dominate the story. The Kipper War (is a funny episode) against the Pirates to recover the stolen hoard of fish belonging to the Penguins. Important in all of the books chosen are the illustrations, for instance, the illustration of Henry in school at the back of the class ‘caught’ by the teacher staring out the high windows.

This is a strange but deeply moving book, interweaving the life of Victorian poet and priest Gerard Manley Hopkins with the lives of five nuns who were aboard the steamship Deutschland when it ran aground at the mouth of the Thames in 1875. The young nuns all drowned, and their deaths inspired one of Hopkins’ greatest poems, "The Wreck of the Deutschland."

It’s a painful story of faith and hope under enormous pressure, yet there are moments of great tenderness and even humour as the nuns face up to their destiny. There’s nothing fashionable or sexy about this book, but I’ve rarely read a book written with so much compassion and humanity.

This is not your parents’ steampunk! It’s an oh-so-different take on the genre with an edgy, improbable, and yet somehow entirely believable motley band of revolutionaries. Delightfully,  it was born in a wisecrack! Maurice complained online about the lily-whiteness typical of steampunk mythology (tru dat!) and quipped that he might well have to write “Pimp my Airship” in retaliation. More than one editor told him that if he wrote it, they’d buy it. Well, what’s an author to do? So, he did. 

And yes, there ARE airships, and yes, they ARE tricked out.

I felt so seen in this story. Elizabeth Acevedo paints a spectacular character (Xiomara) who is caught between worlds—the “old” world of her parents and their strict traditions and the “new” world where she can perform spoken word poetry on stage.

I laughed and cried as I read this book, which was told in verse, especially regarding Xiomara’s relationship with her mother. I could relate so much to Xiomara and the arguments she got into with her mother. I was reminded of my own adolescence and the many fights I had with my mom. It’s all good now, but wow. We used to really get into it during those rocky years.

Stanley Kunitz, with Max Hayward’s translation of Poems of Akhmatova from Russian, is another book that I find myself going back to over and over again.

This is a poet’s translation of a poet, and not only that, but a poet who is willing to give himself entirely to the art of translation in order to bring another poet’s voice in another language back to life, as he puts it in his Translator’s Note, “...to record what we have heard, and to try to give it back in the language that we love.”

This is why I love these translations; I love that I can hear her through him, the translator as a medium, and the result is pure and uncontrived, hitting me right in the heart as I read and taste these poems out loud. This is a poet-translator who has “walked through many lives” (from Kunitz’s poem, “The… show more.

This book epitomizes what it means to be Black and male in American society and how one’s poor choices or the choices that chose one can be overcome. Horton, a native of the segregated South and the by-product of educators, headed north to college and became swept away by the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s. A major drug smuggler, he spent seven years in prison for his crime. But it was during that time, that poetry discovered him and upon his release he earned a B.A., Master, and PhD degrees. In fact, he describes himself as the only tenured professor with seven convicted felonies. In addition, Horton is an award-winning poet, essayist, musician, and devotes much of his time to outreach into the criminal justice system to provide hope for others. Dead Weight, with its theme of redemption, is destined to become an American classic and should be… show more.

A few years ago we at Gertrude lit journal decided to answer the question that kept coming our way: What are some great books written by queer people with narratives that center on queer people? Before the pandemic made a mess of things, we ran GERTIE, a book club that chose two fabulous queer books every quarter. This was our very first book selection, and—like with many firsts, perhaps—it holds a special place.

The Angel of History takes place during one night in the waiting room of a San Francisco psyche ward when visits by the Devil and 14 Saints reveal the life of Jacob, a Yemen-born poet who was born in an Egyptian whorehouse. Yes, you read that right.