The best poetry books that speak to the soul

One of the first books of poetry I ever read with awe. Actually, I still do. No other poet on the face of the earth, besides Sexton, has ever blown me away with words like Plath. I personally loved this book because it showed me how to write poetry. It is like a kind of bible for me. I have the facsimile of Plath’s manuscript and when I look at her handwriting and the fluidity of certain images I can see what a gifted poet Plath was. It taught me how to express words without telling. It taught me how to use imagery like a fancy dress on a night out on the town. For anyone who wants to begin reading poetry, start here. This book helped me see that reality is distorted, that the past and present and future can be held in one poem. It helped me overcome my fear of becoming a published writer. 

Rumi is one of those writers that transcends time and space. He is more of a spiritual writer and when he writes about love and longing, you can feel the words plant a seed inside your soul. If someone asked me which poetry book they should begin reading without any knowledge of poetry, Rumi would be a start. The simplicity of his words taught me that you don’t need to use a thesaurus to express yourself. His simple words and poems about soul mates carry his work over centuries. This poetry book tells you how lovers don’t finally meet somewhere, they’re in each other all along. These famous quotes of Rumi’s will be instilled in you again and again. Easy book to read and carry with you anywhere. It taught me to find my spirituality and soul and let it flow like a river with words as waves. It taught me to read the best passages over and over until you memorize the magic.

This book helped me overcome my anxiety over academia and being published. Although it was not taught to me in university and I discovered Rumi on my own, his poems taught me more about poetry than my English Literature degree.

I recently discovered Kim Addonizio and wanted to include her to share with you a modern poet I am recently obsessed with. I am also reading her book of memoirs at the moment and I am loving her raw style. I was going to put Bukowski in my five picks but I wanted to make it about women. Hench here is a modern poet who comes close to that raw and in-your-face poetry. Confessional poetry, like Plath and Sexton’s, has been my favorite genre, but Addonizio gives it a raw twist with a shot of vodka. I love how Addonizio’s poems slap you in the face with truth. Her poems teach me how to be comfortable sharing my own stories with strangers. Her poems teach me it’s okay to lie about it too. A place where reality and fantasy merge. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to self-examine their own life and all of mankind. She touches upon men, sex, love, divorce, affairs, and all the naughty subjects other poets don’t dare to go. That’s why I love this book. It’s not academia, it’s honest and badass. 

I love this book because it’s an epic poetry book. The first of its kind. Three-hundred and ninety-six-page poetry book. Ariana Reines is one of my favorite top three modern poets as well. Poetry lovers should have this book in their collection. If not, what are you waiting for? It’s a masterpiece. I can see her soul in this book, I can see her heart. I can see her mind. It’s as if sand is literally under your feet as you read these poems divided into sections. This book is meant to be read slowly, like a fine glass of wine. It took me months to read it. It taught me that a poet is an artist and is a traveler of time and space. It taught me to break rules and to do whatever you want as a poet. It taught me to not limit myself as a writer and anything goes. It taught me to take my time with producing a work because it’s better to work on one book for years and produce a brilliant book, than ten mediocre ones. It taught me to make my next book an epic one. 

I’ve been fascinated by poetry ever since I picked up this book for seven dollars at the second-hand bookstore near my university at the age of nineteen. Anne Sexton’s Selected Poems taught me how to write confessional poetry. They taught me how to write narrative poetry. They taught me to not be afraid to speak my truth, no matter how ugly.

I love how Anne Sexton writes about marriage, affairs, love, loss, family, and relationships with depth into herself and her psyche. Her poems in this collection encompass all her most remarkable work from her array of poetry books. Here you have all the classic poems as well as some obscure ones. Her famous, "Black Art" and the classic lines, "A woman who writes feels too much." As well, "For My Lover, Returning to His Wife," and the last two lines, "As for me, I am a watercolor. I wash off." If there is one book to have in your poetry collection this one is it. No poetry bookshelf is complete without Anne Sexton.