#sorry this list is like the shallowest little tip of the iceberg but !!

[sassmar]

not quite an ask, but - rec me some poetry!! ❤️

omg you !!!! you asked the ultimate keep-me-up-all-night-thinking question why would you do this. why. i love you so much.

so i guess i should skip (?) probably (?) the ppl that tumblr already seems to be deeply familiar with e.g. richard siken, ocean vuong, franny choi, hanif abdurraqib, ada limon all coming to mind here, though i def love sooo much of what i've read by them & they deserve their dues!

and then idk if i should also skip (?) maybe (?) some of the really obvious super-famous suspects like sylvia plath, anne sexton, t.s. eliot, e.e. cummings, w.b. yeats, frank o'hara, uh. whose poetry i also love. but like? idk probably these are not deep cuts either but i am extremely fond of them so?

mmm okay so that leaves the small intersection of like .... poetry i've actually read (x) poets i don't see floating around tumblr all the time anyway (x) poets still alive or only fairly recently dead and thus not as stupidly famous as shakespeare or neruda?? (spoiler they're still very famous as far as poets are concerned i'm not like. that deep.)

so anyway i think that little list of poets might include: jericho brown (just finally read the tradition, absolutely gorgeous), natasha trethewey, edward hirsch, louise gluck, dianne seuss (recently read frank: sonnets - lovely!), tracy k smith, marie howe, sharon olds, eavan boland, seamus heaney. oh deep cut, i just discovered a young poet named marcus scott williams with some cool stuff! emily skaja and kathryn merwin might be younger/lesser known/deeper cuts too? gosh i know there are so many deserving others and also cool lesser known poets i'm not listing but my mind is like. yknow. whoooooosh.

oh also for easier reading etc here are some links to a few beloved poems by ppl from all these various lists in no logical order whatsoever:

"dear dr. frankenstein" by jericho brown

"ave maria" by frank o'hara (does not get enough love here on tumblr?? all i ever see is "having a coke with you" which don't get me wrong is so so lovely but why do i never see this one on the dash?? my absolute o'hara fave)

"[intimacy unhinged, unpaddocked me]" by diane seuss

"white lies" by natasha trethewey

"for the sleepwalkers" by edward hirsch

"death, the last visit" by marie howe

"that the science of cartography is limited" by eavan boland (some of y'all will def recognize this uh !! i know !! for reasons!)

"since feeling is first" by e.e. cummings

"perihelion: a history of touch" by franny choi

"digging" by seamus heaney

"young" by anne sexton

<3