kate | (Reply)

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I was going to add "Dogs of Babel" but I see it's already there! My contribution, then, shall be two books of poetry:

"The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai", translated by Bloch and Mitchell
Amichai's poetry, translated by this pair, opened my eyes to poetry for the first time. 'The Diameter of the Bomb' and 'From the book of Esther I filtered the sediment', both in this collection, were in a textbook I was issued in 10th and 11th grade, one of those massive literature texts with more than could be properly taught in just two semesters. I read the whole text in the first couple months of 10th grade, if i recall correctly, and these two poems by Amichai were the standouts. The language was easy to access, the soul of the author was on display, the messages were profound. I sought out more of his work and was not disappointed.

"Delights and Shadows", Ted Kooser
Kooser uses simple but extremely evocative language to paint humble images of real life with exquisite attention to detail? And it makes every little gesture a beautiful important thing. The washing of hands, the tying of a tie, a jar of buttons, he magnifies them by describing them with loving attention. And a whole collection of these poems sends the message that maybe everything is beautiful, everything is important.