2012 Poetry Reading List

I mentioned yesterday that I did take note of the poems I read in 2012.

It’s a small list but somewhat varied:

Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll
‘Twas brillig…
Love this poem.

‘I Am’, John Clare

…

I am the self-consumer of my woes; –

They rise and vanish in oblivion’s host,

Like shadows in love’s frenzied stifled throes: –

And yet I am, and live – like vapors tost …

To His Coy Mistress, Andrew Marvell

…

  But at my back I always hear

Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Wild Geese, Mary Oliver

Late Spring, Robert Hass

Brazil, January 1, 1502, Elizabeth Bishop

From Sickbed Shores, Adrienne Rich

Tonight No Poetry Will Serve, Adrienne Rich

A couple of haiku by Issa including

Where there are humans
You’ll find flies,
And Buddhas.

(English version by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto.)

On My First Son, Ben Jonson

The House, Dorothy Porter

Bluebottles, Dorothy Porter

Three Sonnets, Dorothy Porter – especially:

III. BEAUTIFULLY BONKERS
After Blake

Blake’s burning Bow
turns and turns
in your inadequate trembling
hands.

What holy war
are you trembling for?
What purging dazzling madness
are you raising?

You squirm in paradox.
Hell today.
Paradise tomorrow.
It’s all bliss and grist.

Or is it just those Arrows of Desire
spiking your drink again?

Reflections on my reading:

1. I still feel pretty ignorant about poetry. (Cf. this post.)
2. To counter this, I will continue to try to read widely and as the mood takes me.
3. Anthologies are good for education.
4. There was a conversation on Twitter yesterday about discarding print books and articles (or not), which meandered into talking about how we read. For articles, said Alisa (@acrystelle), she likes paper as she likes to annotate the articles. I said I like reading electronic versions and happily take notes in a separate notebook. For poetry, however, my reading remains almost all in print. And to put this list together I went through the pile of books and flicked through to my notes and bookmarks. I’m not sure why I’m still reading poetry on paper, while I will happily read everything else in electronic versions…