The Poetry Reader: An Anthology

by Mark Yakich (editor)

You have picked up this book because you are a poetry reader. Or you are about to be one. Because as soon as you read a poem, that's what you are.

Filled with the profound, the lyrical, the consoling, and the curious, The Poetry An Anthology is the book you would hope to find if you washed up alone on a deserted this companionable collection shows how poetry itself is a discussion, alive and flowing, and how poems speak to, with, and sometimes over one another.

If you are a teacher, this is the anthology you wish you had as a student – a text that doesn't try to survey entire time periods or aesthetic areas, but one that places side-by-side carefully selected poems that speak to each other over time as well as to today's readers.

- Section header notes provide critical commentary, framing the poems within their given topic
- Discussion and writing suggestions give interesting and actionable prompts
- Works as a standalone book, or can easily be used alongside A Survivor's Guide, 2nd ed.

Drawing on traditional poems and contemporary works, this anthology offers globe-spanning, stylistically diverse poetry, ranging from canonical poems by the likes of Sappho and Shakespeare to those of new voices such as Layli Long Soldier and Mukoma wa Ngugi. As a compact, eclectic, and approachable collection based on specific aspects of poetry and poetic practices – from identity and metaphor to sublimation and spirituality – The Poetry Reader acts as a guide to understanding the essentials of both reading and writing poetry.

Genres: Poetry

240 pages, Paperback

Published January 9, 2025

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made a lot of highlights. I think a hard copy of this book would be nice. It would go well on my beside table with my other poetry books.

[Ryan Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Make me a playlist of 100 songs and I’ll choose one I like.

I choose Meditation Denying Everything by Katie Peterson.

Reading Poetry to Write Lyrics

I read this anthology to reflect on the nature of crafting lyrics as a songwriter.

Listening to lyrics can feel inattentive in that the experience is focused on sound, rhythm and emotion rather than the words themselves. Writing lyrics, though, is exacting. The idea behind the words must be clear and then pared down to fit a melody, becoming evocative and ambiguous in the process.

That process reminds me of reading poetry where every word demands focus, interpretation, and the conjuring of relatable imagery and emotions. In that way, I’m drawn to the idea of writing lyrics as poems first and then refining them for their musicality.

Using AI to Experiment with Intertextuality

Recently I’ve been inspired by an artist who uses AI to generate poetry in their material installations. In their early works, they used a corpus of postmodern poetry and horoscopes, as well as presumably their own writing, to generate original text when triggered by human interaction.

It made me think: what if I make my own corpus of lyrics that resonate with me and use it to generate original work? The AI is deaf to my music though so their role would be that of a poet. I would discuss a topic with them, prompt them to write a poem, and then cut, reshape and add to it to fit my music.

Yakich encourages this kind of intertextuality, even specifically the use of AI, in his introduction:

“Reading poems generates writing them. Literature is generative in this way, too. Relatedly, many of us wonder how AI will affect the generation of literature. But is there really an issue? If an algorithm, machine, or bot creates a text that moves you, let it.”

I’ve applied this technique to writing a song and the results were extremely satisfying. Like a conversation between my favourite lyricists and I trying to capture my own experiences and emotions in familiar language but original and unique expression.

Why Meditation Denying Everything?

Let’s return to the poem I chose. What stands out to me in a poem when it is only words I am paying attention to and not music?

Simplicity, beauty and the evocation of a person in a peaceful place:

Because it is a pearly evening
I am sitting in the window reading
a book I have read before.

Themes of independence and longing grounded in specific sensory language:

and then you’re looking
at a valley you named yourself
and irrigated yourself,
full of bitterroot, magnolia in the clefts
of rock, sage, at last a harvest
a desert that belongs to you—

Simple words to express the calm acceptance of transitory desire by evoking images of the body, movement and place:

The trick to renunciation is starting now.
The secret of detachment
is having already given up,
a transcript of speech whose cadences are lost,
the human need for a body to fill in
all your body’s deficiencies, those clefts to fill in

[...]

My spine
wants a bicycle to order its work, a red
bicycle, a hill into the heart
of a city that holds something I want

[…]

The pattern of the air around that leaf
is like someone tracing my ribcage
with his index finger
and then walking away.

General Observations

I actually enjoyed many other poems in this collection and I’m eager to explore more work by some poets in particular such as Lisel Mueller and Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Yakich’s sharp introductions and creative prompts made me feel like I was being guided through a gallery of diverse voices and styles. An illuminating and enjoyable exploration.

I’m conscious this is the first review so please someone post a proper one soon!