I have always had such a love/hate feeling about modern poetry.
I remember the very first poetry collection I picked up to read, before I had even discovered the genre termed 'modern poetry': Rupi Kaur's 'Milk and Honey'. A classic, right? Pretty much where most people start when they find themselves in this genre. My first impressions of Kaur's books were that they were nothing like the poems I had read in school. And this is true for most poetry books of our era. There is no complex iambic pentameter, no obvious analytical use of pathetic fallacy and really it was mostly in free form. My first thought was that there is no way such two sub-genres of poetry can even co-exist. My second thought was, who is to say that modern poetry is a lesser type of poetry?
Since then, I have read my Lang Leav, my R.H.Sin, my Courtney Peppernell all the way to the instagram, tumblr and twitter poets. Some of which contain some of the best poetry I have ever read. Others, I thought my money would have been better spent elsewhere.
My most recent read is Michael Faudet's 'Dirty Pretty Things'. Unfortunately, it is probably one of my least favourite reads on the list. This collection just missed the aesthetic for me. I understand the underlying motif of the poems, and even admire some of the imagery and metaphorical devices used in it to not only be creative, but also influential. However, printing a line of everyday conversation can hardly be passed as poetry; it is at most a quote, if that. It is safe to say that this is not the only collection that has let me down.
Now, I like to see the two sides of things. I believe there is positives and negatives in almost everything: including literature. So I have listed below some of my higher rated poetry collections (which is not to say that every poem in them is note-worthy, just that the experience of finding poems you like is worth your time):
Lang Leav 'The Universe of Us'
Lang Leav 'Lullabies'
Lang Leave 'Memories'
Rainer Maria Rilke 'Letters to a Young Poet' (which I am going to sneak in here even though it is not directly poetry because it is one of my all time favourite books!)
Pleasefindthis 'I Wrote this for You' (poetry and photography)
Pleasefindthis 'I Wrote this for You and Only You' (poetry and photography)
Courtney Peppernell 'Pillow Thoughts'
Ultimately, poetry is that genre that takes a few tries, a few hates and a few loves before you actually understand what you like to read. Some of us may read the same thing and think completely different things of it. Modern poetry is slightly more tricky. In the sense that it blurs the boundaries of what 'poetry' encompasses; it challenges what we expect of poems. Which is why I feel it is a journey; there is a poem that I have loved in every collection that I have hated. And vice versa. I think we can recognise that that is okay.
What are your thoughts on modern poetry? Let us know!
Dare Disturb the Universe,
N
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