My Favourite Poems
A little while ago, I was thinking of ideas for zines (not ones for distribution, just little craft projects for myself), and I liked the idea of collaging with some of my favourite poems. And of course, just like that, all my favourite poems immediately left my mind. I could think of a few, but not many.
So, here is a list of my favourite poems, for personal documentation purposes, and also to share them with you! Many of them are too long to be collaged for zines in their entirety, but I think it will be good to have this list for future reference anyway.
I'm not going to include full poems, but hyperlinks, and an explanation of why I like them.
He wishes his Beloved were Dead by William Butler Yeats
The imagery of this poem literally feels cold to me, which is a very pleasant sensation. I particularly love the visuals of "lights were paling out of the West". Plus, I've associated it with The X-Files for a long time -- don't ask me why, I have no idea.
Prayer of the Jaguar by Roger Reeves
This one is a little more modern, but it's the imagery again that really does it for me. Violent and haunting, I can feel my teeth sharpening when I read it. Lord, let me be useful...
Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out by Richard Siken
Not too long ago, I was saying that I felt sort of 'basic' for liking Richard Siken's poetry so much... but then I realised that I've just been spending far too much time on Tumblr. If you ask anyone in the Real World if they've heard of him, you're likely to get total crickets. Not that I think he's 'underground' or anything, but it's ridiculous to think Siken is 'basic' -- I've never even seen a physical copy of his work in person. So, I will not let Tumblr convince me that loving Siken is lame.
Anyway, this is one of his most famous poems, and for good reason. It features many brilliant lines, and great metaphors, but mostly I love Siken's sense of rhythm. His work flows and shudders, disjointed in all the right places.
Lucretia by James Elroy Flecker
The story of Lucretia is awful, and has been retold several times across several centuries. This poem seems to paint her as vengeful, almost demonic, heralding death and destruction. Although the story is terrible, the poem's language is incredible.
My favourite thing about it is the closing lines: "For love is lust, and life is a dream of death -- Hell is opening, opening horribly." Awesome. Should be in the liner notes of a metal album.
Jessica gives me a chill pill by Angie Sijun Lou
Okay, this poem mostly just has personal importance to me, but it also just has some great turns of phrase. It's short and extremely readable, so if you aren't really a poetry person, but for some reason have read all the way down to here, maybe give this one a go!
The lines that I think about a lot from this poem are these: "Jessica has a forehead scar from the deep end of a pool. I ask Jessica what drowning feels like and she says not everything feels like something else." Important to consider.
Snow and Dirty Rain by Richard Siken
Yes, Siken again. He's brilliant, what can I say? To me, this poem is about life. I mean, it's also about love, but what I take from it is a command to enjoy life while you have it here, in your hands; forget that the world is falling apart around you, what can you do about it? Just live it. It's also a brilliantly coloured poem -- everything is gold.
This one also has a line that I think about constantly: "We are all going forward. None of us are going back." Too true, and a good thing to be reminded of.
Well, that's it for now. I'll probably update this with others once I remember them (or find new favourites!).
That's all I have to say, I think.