Library Blog

April is National Poetry Month, a splendid time for all ages to enjoy a bit of verse. Check out the Academy of American Poets website and learn about its 30 ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month. A simple and easy way to enjoy poetry each day is to sign up for their poem-a-day email service. The weekday poems are new and previously unpublished. You can read the poem silently to yourself or listen to a recording of the poet reading it aloud. 

In honor of National Poetry Month, here are a few books of poetry recommended by Lewis & Clark Library staff. 

Enjoy! 

Jess suggests . . .  Devotions: the selected poems of Mary Oliver
by Mary Oliver 

For anyone unfamiliar with Mary Oliver, I would tell them to start with Devotions: the selected poems of Mary Oliver. Her complete works like A Thousand Mornings, Upstream, or Blue Iris are lovely in their complete form, but Devotions provides an anthology of her life. 

Oliver weaves her observations of Nature into her pondering of life, death, and beyond. I am often transported to a memory of my own that brings me calm: a glossy mountain lake, a starry night, the call of the mourning dove. 

In this collection, some of my favorites include "Wild Geese," "In Blackwater Woods," "The Summer Day," "To Begin with Sweetgrass," and "Red." 

Find Devotions in the library catalog Here
Mary Oliver’s poetry is also available in digital format:
Montana Library2Go/Libby eBooks
Hoopla eBooks 

Clare suggests . . . The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems 
by Billy Collins 

I imagine 

  Billy Collins standing at his windowsill,  

craving a cigarette,  

    thinking up ways to make me laugh. 

Daydreaming ways to make me cry. 

Find The Trouble with Poetry in the library catalog Here 

Max suggests . . . Milk and Honey 
by Rupi Kaur 

A collection of short- to mid-length poems accompanied by her minimalist ink illustrations, Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey is, in essence, the coming-of-age story of a young twenty-first century woman. Kaur employs vivid imagery and passionate expression in uncovering her own wants and desires from under the shroud of others’ expectations. Exploring topics from relationships to identity to self-image, Milk and Honey is a raw, deftly-crafted must-read for the seeker, the wanderer, and the art-lover in all of us. 

Find Milk and Honey in the library catalog Here
Also available in digital form:
Montana Library2Go/Libby eBook and audiobook (read by the author)
Hoopla eBook
Read more about the author Here 

Bretagne suggests . . . The Sun and Her Flowers 
by Rupi Kaur 

"we have been dying  

since we got here  

and forgot to enjoy the view 

-live fully" 

Rupi's second book of poetry where she writes about growth, healing, ancestry, and honoring your roots.  

Find The Sun and Her Flowers in the library catalog Here
Also available in digital format:
Montana Library2Go/Libby eBook 

 Homebody
by Rupi Kaur 

"i'm careful about  

who i spend my energy on  

-i know my worth" 

The poetry of Rupi Kaur is very deep and moving. Follow along with the emotions and feelings she brings forth with her powerful poetry. 

Find Homebody in the library catalog Here 

Beth suggests . . . Good Poems & Good Poems for Hard Times
selected by Garrison Keillor 

Two collections of poetry selected by the host of the Writer’s Almanac. These books of poetry contain a variety of well-known poets.  I’ve enjoyed paging through these collections and hope you will, too. “It’s a book of poems for anybody who loves poetry whether they know it or not.” 

Available through Montana Library2Go/Libby eBooks
Listen to The Writer’s Almanac Here 

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