Poetry Readers Challenge discussion

About me: I enjoy writing poetry just for myself. I was looking through groups on here, and saw the description to read and review 20 books of poetry per year. It made me think what a better poet I would be! I'm very uncomfortable with reviewing books, but I am excited to be here and recording what I'm reading.

January 2021
T.S. Eliot, Collected Poems 1909-1962

February 2021
John Ashbery - Some Trees: Poems

March 2021
Rainer Maria Rilke - Selected Poetry, translated by Stephen Mitchell, Uncollected Poems translated by Edward Snow
Robert Bly - Collected Poems

April 2021
Gregory Orr - Orpheus & Eurydice, The Caged Owl, Concerning the Book that is the Body of the Beloved, How Beautiful the Beloved, The last love poem I will ever write
Ruth Padel - Beethoven Variations: Poems on a Life
Jane Kenyon - Collected Poems
Theodore Roethke - Collected Poems

May 2021
Walt Whitman - Leaves of Grass
Richard Hugo - Collected Poems
American Journal - Ed. by Tracy K. Smith

June 2021
May Sarton - Collected Poems
Donika Kelly - Bestiary
Tracy K. Smith - Life on Mars, Wade in the Water
Eve L. Ewing - 1919
Ellen Bass - Like a Beggar, The Human Line, Mules of Love

July 2021
Ralph Waldo Emerson - Complete Poems

Books about writing:
Why Poetry, by Matthew Zapruder - 5 stars
Writing Poetry to Save Your Life, by Maria Mazziotti Gillan - 3 stars
Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott - 5 stars
Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke, Translated by Charlie Louth - 5 stars
Art & Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland - 5 stars
A Primer for Poets & Readers of Poetry, by Gregory Orr - 5 stars
How to Read a Poem: and Fall in Love with Poetry, by Edward Hirsch - 5 stars
On Poetry & Craft, by Theodore Roethke - 2 stars
Triggering Town, by Richard Hugo - 5 stars
On Writing, by Charles Bukowski - 4 stars
The Poet's Work, Ed. by Reginald Gibbons
Why We Write About Ourselves, Ed. by Meredith Maran - 5 stars
The Writing Life, by Annie Dillard - 4 stars
The Getaway Car, by Anne Patchett - 5 stars
In the Palm of Your Hand, by Steve Kowit
Saved by a Poem, by Kim Rosen

Books by poets or with poets as main characters:
An Imaginary Life, by David Malouf - 5 stars
Leaving the Atocha Station, by Ben Lerner - 5 stars
August Rodin, by Rainer Maria Rilke - 3 stars
The Blessing: A Memoir, by Gregory Orr - 5 stars
Roethke: An American Romantic, by Jay Parini - 3 stars
What is the Grass, by Mark Doty - 4 stars

Wonderful choice.

This has been quite an educational year for me! That's exactly what I wanted. My goal has been to always have a book of poetry that I'm reading, and also something about writing poetry.

Reading poetry definitely inspires me to write poetry, and I've always known that. A word or a phrase from a poem sparks a thought in me. I am enjoying being more familiar with a range of poets. I still think I'm not very brave about critiquing books or poems. Perhaps in time.

I am getting into a routine of each month reading the collected works of a poet I am interested in, and then finishing the month with shorter books by various poets. Reading collected works is a bit overwhelming. It is fascinating to see how a poet developed over a lifetime of writing, but also too much to really take in.

I thought that reading more poetry would influence my poetry writing more, and it really hasn't. Writing is more a form of therapy for me, than poetry, I think.

Some thoughts mid-year on my year of poetry!

That's quite a reading year-to-date, Chris. And I like your routine!