Five Highly Recommended Living Poets

I've often thought that one reason more people don't enjoy poetry is because their primary exposure to it was back in grade school where they were presented with an outdated collection of old masters, from Shakespeare to Victorian poets to other so-called classics of literature. Of course, there are many positive remarks to be made about the classics, but they may not seem to have much relevance to readers' lives today. They are not even written in a language that is indicative of how we speak today. Partly due to many people's limited exposure to a rather stale seeming poetry of the past, many of them never chose to pursue poetry further, to find out what else the land of poetry might have to offer.

This is too bad, because the land of poetry happens to be a very multifaceted, highly-powerful, super-charged, vibrant, and dynamic realm abuzz with many colonies of exciting poets who are alive and writing today and who are very much relevant to current lives and the current zeitgeist.

As a person who is extremely passionate about poetry, is a poet herself, and adores many different kinds of poetry and poets, it would be a nearly impossible task for me to narrow my favorites list down to only five best or five most worthy. There are so many more than one small handful of poets that I feel strongly about. However, I couldn't pass up this opportunity to make mention of at least five of them, in honor of poetry month and poetic creativity every month. Why not do yourself a creative favor and check out one (or more) of these exceptional poets today? And remember, all of these poets are very much alive and still writing, so who knows what exciting words they may carve out next?

~Rebecca Loudon: Idiosyncratic and throbbingly visceral, Loudon mines loaded terrains of mental illness, longing, sex and other insatiable desires. Her first full-length poetry collection, 'Tarantella' was published by Ravenna Press and so was her second collection, 'Radish King'. She also has two books published by No Tell Books, the chapbook length, 'Navigate, Amelia Earhart's Letters Home' and her most recent full-length, 'Cadaver Dogs'. Loudon also maintains an engaging blog called Radish King at http://radishking.blogspot.com/ that refreshingly diverges from the more standard poetry scene and reveals whatever she feels inclined to reveal about life, dreams, mental states, painting, food, violin lessons, day jobs, duck blood and much more. Her blog is an engaging glimpse into a life. Her poetry is like a pulsing beast of a world unto itself.

~Lara Glenum: I am currently working on a review of Glenum's latest poetry collection, 'Maximum Gaga' and I found myself thinking of it as 'post-apocalyptic porno poetry' and then I thought that it wasn't just post-apocalyptic, it was also post-porno-and kind of post-gender-and maybe even post-HUMAN. None of which is meant to suggest that it's written in some kind of impenetrable, academic postmodern jargon. Not at all. It's more of a visceral fusion of creatures who are hybrids of human and animal and machine. It's not for the squeamish and certainly not for the prim and proper, but if you think you might enjoy some poetic material that plays with conventions of gender and sex in extreme and gut-churning ways, then check out Glenum's new book, as well as her previous collection, 'The Hounds of No'. Glenum is associated with an interesting new poetry movement called 'gurlesque' that fuses the cute and girlie with the grotesque with certain performative aspects of burlesque in a kind of re-appropriated force feeding of voluptuous horror. Both of her books were published by Action Books.

~Kristy Bowen: Evocative in its own unique way and flirting with themes related to femininity, the paranormal, the historical, and peculiar memory banks, Kristy Bowen's poetry has an undercurrent of subconscious power. Her two full-length poetry books are 'The Fever Almanac' published by Ghost Road Press and 'In the Bird Museum' published by Dusie Press and she also has quite a few enticing poetry chapbooks available, if you'd like to partake of a sample or teaser piece before committing. As well, Bowen is the editor of her own prolific independent publishing outfit, Dancing Girl Press, which specializes in work by young female poets, many of which are well worth investigating further. Dancing Girl Press recently expanded to include a studio component, too. Find out more via Kristy Bowen's lovely and multifaceted website at http://www.kristybowen.net/.

~Tess Gallagher: For slightly more traditional tastes, Gallagher is a poet who has been publishing poignant, naturally descriptive, powerfully emotional, and non-didactic political poetry for years, some of it drawing upon her own life experiences including her childhood, her world travels, her loving relationship with fellow poet Raymond Carver and painful loss of him to an untimely death, and other touching observations and recollections. A beautiful openness pervades much of her poetry and it tends to be fairly plainspoken and accessible without falling victim to cliché. Many different books have been published across the span of her lengthy poetic career; my two personal favorites are 'Amplitude' and 'Moon Crossing Bridge' and her latest is called 'Dear Ghosts'.

~Lynn Crosbie: Since many prefer to think of Poetry Month as not just national, but international, I am adding an underrated Canadian poet to my list, too. Crosbie has had many of her own unique poetry books published, as well as editing several very engaging anthologies, such as 'The Girl Wants To...' a multifaceted, quirkilicious, and sometimes fetishistic collection of erotic writing by women. Her own poetry often seems to be obsessively and lushly fixated upon the seamier side of popular culture, the more dysfunctional side of romantic relationships, and other dark underbellies, including writing persona-style poems from inside the minds of serial killers. Pretty creepy and some might even suggest sinister material but very compelling and interestingly written, so if you're drawn to the dark side, check her out. As of this writing, Crosbie is currently the featured poet on online poetry site, 'ditch poetry' (http://www.ditchpoetry.com/) so you might desire to sample her sordid wares there. Amongst my favorites of her poetry books are 'Pearl', 'Queen Rat', and 'Missing Children'.

As already mentioned, there are handfuls upon handfuls of excellent poets writing today that I could have mentioned here. This is just an itty bitty sliver of a huge and ornately carved ice sculpture. Hopefully, these ice shavings will pique a few individuals' interest and get them started on their own unique and poetry reading path. Happy poetry reading!