The Best Poems I Read This Year
send me your favourite poems!
I’m back again! Special-extra-SUNDAY post, and also my last one for this year. I’m sharing all of my favourite poems I read in 2021, including three poetry collections. Poetry is a tricky thing because I feel like I don’t read it so much as it is a part of me and is woven into the way I think about the universe (if that makes sense). I make a point to read at least one poem every single day, and because of that, I don’t always remember what I have read. 2-3 poems a day, multiply that by 365…you get the point. But, occasionally I come across a poem that carves its mark on me like no other. And I find myself coming back to it again and again. I picked out twenty from the past year that I found to be particularly brilliant or insightful.
For the most part, I read a lot of singular poems from one writer and then another from someone else. Online, maybe in the New Yorker, or other magazines, a lot of poetry journals, but I usually don’t read an entire collection unless I am particularly taken with that writer. I have only read about five full collections this year, and these three were the best. I didn’t include anything I’m still working through or any of the ones I have been re-reading since before 2021, but I’m always interested in finding new stuff, so feel free to send me your favourites if you have any.
CW: I haven’t listed specifics next to each poem, but just know that a lot of poetry tends to deal with heavier topics like mental health, grief, abuse, sexual topics, and general dark imagery. I don’t believe anything I have picked here is particularly explicit, but feel free to send me a private message if you’re concerned about something or want to know the specific content before reading.
Collections:
The Selected Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay (foreword and introduction by Olivia Gatwood): Honestly, I am not sure there is anything I can say about Millay’s work that isn’t better said by Gatwood in her introduction. But, to me, this collection is about seeking out a life of radical bravery. There is a certain openness about Millay—her person and reflected in her writing—that I admire and aspire to, myself.
Rocket Fantastic by Gabrielle Calvocoressi: Calvocoressi does something here with these poems which are ambitious and formless and truly special. Their imagining of The Bandleader figure as an interwoven, ghostly thread is brilliant and I am still working through all of the layers in these pieces. I love works that do things with concepts I’ve never encountered before.
Drolleries by Cassidy McFadzean: I initially picked this up because the author is Canadian and the subject matter is mythological, which I am always interested in (former ~Latin Club~ member here, y’all). She creates this entire fantastical world, yet it’s rooted in the everyday toils of marriage. The grounding of otherworldly creatures and natural elemental powers through interpersonal relations is a clever trick of storytelling I’d love to play around with at some point in my own writing.
One-Offs: (not in any particular order)
“The Committee Weighs In” by Andrea Cohen: I…just read this.
“Afraid of Nothing”, “Rural Boys Watch The Apocalypse”, and “Sonnet for Gay History” by Keaton St. James: I listed three from this poet because I can. If poetry were citrus, Keaton’s poems would be a clementine peeled in one long swirl, the words ragged and tumbling one after another after another.
“Reasons for Staying” by Ocean Vuong: Vuong is easily one of the best poets of all time, and yes I will fight anyone who says differently. Though the poetry community is usually a non-violent group, we can get pretty passionate. This poem is like applying salve to a broken world, it makes you carefully consider people’s ability to mend.
“Laura Palmer Graduates” by Amy Woolard: Favourite lines—“I’m here with you now & I’m wrapped up tight / On the steps like a top sheet like the morning paper / Before it’s morning…”
“field guide of the color green” by Sara Mae: I’d like to commit this whole thing to memory.
“Accident Report In the Tall, Tall Weeds” by Ada Limon: I read this aloud in my kitchen, over and over again while the coffee drips into my cup.
“Poem for Maya” by Carolyn Forche: Sometimes I fall in love with a poem after reading the first line.
“Zona” by Jim Harrison: Something about this little poem has stuck with me and I can’t even exactly place why. The last lines hit with a gut punch and I think there’s so much to be said for poets who can really articulately craft a full story in only a few lines. I am not one such poet, at least not yet.
“grinding the lens” by Linda Gregg: I have such a softness toward poems about aloneness and contentment—unsurprisingly, as I did write three essays about it.
“Costa Rican Coffee” by Diane Wakoski: To me, there is an inherent poetic romance about coffee, which is why I write about it so much, I think. But this poem reflects that perfectly, it’s a great morning read.
“Gardens of Babur, Kabul” by Aria Aber: The line about going to lunch within a war will haunt me. I love poems about gardens, and this one reminds me of Seventeen Tomatoes, as Adi is a Student of Gardens in that novel. It is sad and sweet and lovely.
“September Garden Party” by Jane Kenyon, “The Visit” by Jane Kenyon, and “A Summer Party” by Christina: The last one is a short story, but all of these fall under the same theme and style. I read a lot of poems about gatherings and picnics last winter since we couldn’t have them. Stuck inside and peering out at the cold street—looking forward to the simplicity of a backyard party gave me some hope, and reading about it warmed me up a bit.
“Crossing” by TC Tolbert: One thing about poetry is it can get at something you’ve felt before even if you had never been able to quite grasp it or fully realize it. Tolbert writes, “My throat hurts from saying so much nothing.” which I think is universal, though it’s not often articulated in such a way.
“Enough Music”* by Dorianne Laux: Being able to sit with someone in contented silence is a kind of perfection. I should know, I so rarely am able to shut up!
“Sowing” by Audre Lorde: Audre Lorde’s writing is always so rich and drawn out like a bleeding sunrise.
“Feeling Fucked Up” by Etheridge Knight: If things are shit then you might as well write about it and make it worth something.
“Patron Saint of Letting Go”* by Orion Carloto: I love this so much I’m not even sure how to talk about it?? Some of the best things are like that.
“Mountain Dew Commercial Disguised As A Love Poem”* by Matthew Olzmann: To know someone is to love them and whatnot. Or whatever.
“this beginning may have always meant this end”** by Camille T. Dungy: This is another poem that aches to be read aloud. It’s one of my all-time favourites, it has a bounce to it that’s so satisfying.
“One Last Poem for Richard” by Sandra Cisneros: This poem always reminds me of that Joni Mitchell song. It’s about Christmas Eve, which seems like a good time to say goodbye to someone you used to love, I guess. She writes, “I forget the reason, but I loved you once, / remember?” and it cracks me open every time.
I’ll leave you with one final recommendation, which is the song: “The Last Time I Saw Richard” by Joni Mitchell. I see song lyrics as poetry, and Joni Mitchell is one of the best songwriters of all time—therefore, also one of the best poets. This song is so melancholic and beautiful and is intrinsically linked to the final poem I talked about. It always makes me think of the holidays and snowfall, I hope you enjoy it. Whatever you do or don’t celebrate this time of year, I’m hoping that any part of this might bring you some solace or peace.
Be well, Madelyn