Top 5 Poetry Books of 2018

I made a goal this year of reading 1,000 poems, and I ended the year having read at least double that many. Almost all of them, this year, came from collections and anthologies. I read poetry by Jill Bialosky, Billy Collins, Robert Hass, Bob Hicok, Tony Hoagland, Laura Kasischke, Jane Kenyon (all of Jane Kenyon's work), Ted Kooser, Maxine Kumin, Li-Young Lee, Mary Oliver, Linda Pastan, Pablo Neruda (in fact, all 225 of his odes), Joyce Sutphen, and Kevin Young. I chose my top five (not including re-reads) to share with you here. Only one was published in 2018, but a couple others were from 2017.

 

 

Picnic Lightning, Billy Collins

This one felt like a re-read because so many of my favorite Collins poems come from this collection. If you want to try a Billy Collins collection, start with this one.

Devotions, Mary Oliver

This is a thick book of selected poems of one of the most prolific poets writing today. It's a wonderful collection, most of the poems centering on the natural world.

 

Collected Poems, Jane Kenyon

Kenyon is a wonderful poet who did not get to write for enough years. Her poems are heavy on domestic scenes and the love of her husband, poet Donald Hall.

Kindest Regards, Ted Kooser

Kooser's poems are unassuming and simple, perhaps deceptively so. They are enormously comfortable poems.

All the Odes, Pablo Neruda

I complained about the size of this one (800+ pages, if I recall), but the experience was one I'll remember for quite some time. There are many poems in the collection I just loved.