Top 10 Poetry Books for Christmas

If you are trying to be a better poet, you know that writing poetry is only half the work. Reading good poetry is the other half. It is what informs your sensibilities, introduces you to new techniques, makes you jealous (in a good way) so you work even harder to find just the right images, sounds, rhythms.

I read a lot of poetry, because it helps me become a better poet. It also makes me a better writer in general. And it creates bonds between me and my girls, as we often read together after supper. Last night, for instance, my Eldest asked me to read some Shakespeare blank verse to her, from The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. Then we had a sweet conversation about the poem, and we both learned something about blank verse.

This is the other thing I love about reading poetry, especially with my children. It's a simple way to have a conversation about literature, without requiring the longer commitment of reading a whole book together (though we do that too).

Below are some of the books we have shared, and continue to share. I've taken the liberty of adding my own book of poetry to the list. Funny enough, my kids once asked me for a signed copy (which they thought was hilarious). And they still read the poems, and it makes me smile. I still read the poems sometimes too, and I wonder about the person who had those experiences; many of the poems are the "little stories" behind the bigger story I tell in God in the Yard.

Top 10 Poetry Books for Christmas

1. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. This is an excellent resource book that my girls and I go back to again and again. It's where we found villanelles, sestinas, and (last night :) blank verse. It includes lots of great classic poems, grouped by form.

2. Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words is a fun little book that will get you playing with words in new ways. I remember writing the poem Bottled after taking Wooldridge's advice about collecting fun words. I am fizzle fazzle pizzaz... I started.

3. InsideOut: poems. I partnered with International Arts Movement to bring this book into the world. Some of my favorite poems are the short ones like this, called "Almonds": I remember the scent/and how you crushed them;/brown skins/turned to dust,/scattered like spilled cinnamon.

4. Valentines. Okay, I know you are thinking, "Wrong holiday, L.L.!" But this is a great little book of poetry. For years Kooser wrote poems for a whole mailing list of women, as a simple Valentine's gift, until the stamps got too expensive. I'm glad they did. Now we can read the poems too. Here's an excerpt from "Pocket Poem": What I wanted this/to say was that I want to be so close/that when you find it, it is warm from me.

5. The Butterfly's Burden. This collection, by a Palestinian poet, never fails to make me swoon. Take this little untitled poem for instance: The fog is darkness, thick white darkness/peeled by an orange and a promising woman. :)

6. Barbies at Communion: and other poems. I don't know anyone with a style quite like Marcus Goodyear. He sees the most amazing things in the common: credit cards, Barbies, a seashore. Here's the end of a poem about mowing on a Sunday: I'll admit my sin. I love this Sabbath/work, my mower's loud drone/swallows the noisy world whole.

7. Contingency Plans: poems. If you like form poetry, this is a perfect choice. The sestinas alone are worth the price of the book (if you don't know what a sestina is, come back tomorrow. I promise to give you a Christmas Future sestina, whether you are naughty or nice. :) One of my favorite excerpts comes from a poem called "On Restlessness." For some reason I say it in my head a lot: If it helps, find some paper: write your question./Mine merely asks 'How do you and I operate?'

8. How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry. Hirsch says poetry is "a secret that can no longer be kept a secret." If you've wondered why and how you should read poetry, this book will give you some unexpected and delightful answers, so that maybe you'll find yourself saying, like he does, "It always carries me away."

9. Nine Horses: Poems. One quiet Sabbath, I read this entire book of poetry to my kids. They loved it. Collins is pure grown-up, but he's accessible at many levels. One of our favorites was about the neurotic fear of a mouse who might burn the whole house down by accidentally striking a match in the walls.

10. The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems. Neruda will teach you the power of the image. Abstract language takes a back seat to poppies, a green knife, footsteps light as flour dust. I am particularly enamored with the love poetry. Here's an excerpt from "Twenty Love Poems, 7": Leaning into the evenings I toss my sad nets/to that sea which stirs your ocean eyes. I think it's the power of the images that makes Neruda still so readable even in translation (and this translation collection, btw, I hear is one of the best).

Merry Christmas, in 24 days. I'm going to go read a little poetry. :)


Mourning Doves in the Tree photo, by L.L. Barkat.

Top Christmas Book Picks

There are books I return to, because they give me new gifts every time I open them. Sometimes these books give me old gifts too, and that is good, because I delight to relive the wonder or joy, the philosophy or challenge.

When I consider these again-and-again books, I realize that although I've taken certain things from them, they also promise to give general gifts to their readers. Perhaps some of these gifts are the kind you might want to put on your wish list or share with someone else this Christmas...


The gift of writing-freedom

The Soul Tells A Story: Engaging Creativity With Spirituality In The Writing Life and The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life. Does writing call you? Are you answering that call? What gets in the way? What might move you forward? Here are my two favorite books that offer writing-freedom, not just anecdote or advice.


The gift of spiritual rejuvenation

Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation. Are you tired, maybe disillusioned, or in search of deeper direction in your spiritual life? This gentle book is worth reading once a year.


The gift of reassurance for mothers

Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God: Encouragement to Refresh Your Soul. This is my standard baby-shower gift, or anytime gift for mothers who could use wisdom, solace and a dose of light humor.


The gift of reconciliation (denominational and ethnic respectively)

The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus and Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical's Inside View of White Christianity. Both of these books give a new twist on subjects we think we already know about. And they pave the way for reconciliation. The latter might even bring you to tears, it's so honest and beautifully written.


The gift of forgiveness

Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places. I used to think this was a book about grace. And it is, in its way. But somewhere along the line, I realized that many people were finding a particular kind of grace in its pages: forgiveness. One woman wrote to tell me that she'd been told to forgive for a long, long time... through friends, sermons, religious books, and nothing had ever made it possible. Until she read Stone Crossings. This sentiment has been echoed elsewhere, including in Glynn Young's precious revelation of how the book helped him forgive his father.


The gift of a poignant story

The Summer Book is a gorgeous telling of the relationship between a young girl and her grandmother, both coming to life and facing endings in their own ways. Kristin Lavransdatter changed the way I write. Undset's choice of details is often simple, yet conveys powerful emotions of love and loss. The Things They Carried was one of those books that took me by surprise. I don't ordinarily prefer war stories, but this one gets to the heart of humanity in amazing ways. It also makes you think about the nature of truth and story.


The gift of poetry

How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry and Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words. As children, we are naturally drawn to poetry. Yet many of us lose our love of it along the way. Both of these books will help you find the joy and necessity of poetry again, the first lyrically so and the second creatively so.


The gift of better blogging

Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers. This is one of my all-time favorite books on how to navigate the blogsophere and grow an audience. Every blogger should read it at least once.


The gift of thoughtful morning devotions

Celtic Devotions: A Guide to Morning and Evening Prayer. Simple yet deep, this is a beautiful book. The prayers are like poetry (which makes sense, because many are taken from Celtic song).


The gift of smart humor

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. This one is hilarious and gives a fun perspective on our Old Testament roots. It's worth buying the book just for the description of how he tries to live the Proverb "slow to anger" while at Mail Boxes, Etc. (Do remember that this is a book written by an agnostic. I probably don't need to say that, but I didn't want anyone to be surprised when the author admits to believing or not believing in things that various kinds of Christians might hold dear.)


The gift of simplicity

Not So Fast: Slow-Down Solutions for Frenzied Families. This good-humored book will make you smile while giving you practical ways to simplify your life and dig deep into family relationships.


The gift of art

A Profound Weakness: Christians & Kitsch is a bit expensive, but if you can afford the price tag it's full of excellent art philosophy. And the pictures are gorgeous (all the more amazing because she has photographed kitsch in unusual, beautiful ways.)

Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art, and Culture will give you new ways to think about art and faith. The essays have a great balance of both the personal and philosophical.

What gift do you want to give someone this year? Maybe you can find it in this little Christmas list.


Stone Crossings Christmas photo, by L.L. Barkat.