11 poetry books to read if you don't know where to start

Anthologies

Poetry Is Not a Luxury

This is a new anthology based on a brilliant Instagram account @poetryisnotaluxury which shares a new beautiful poem each week. I love the selection of poets put together in this book and the way it's split into poetry to suit the four seasons.

Best read: in a bath full of bubbles with a packet of crisps.

Staying Alive: real poems for unreal times edited by Neil Astley

This is a poetry anthology I've had for years. There are three in this series and I could've picked any of them really. I love the way this anthology is organised into fairly random sections such as 'Body and Soul', 'Bittersweet', 'My People', so you can search for a poem based on what feeling you need help or inspiration with. Each chapter also has a short introduction to the theme as well as to the poems. It's the anthology I leaf through most often and probably the one I've learnt most about poetry from. I don't like all the poems in it but I love a lot of them.

Best read: whenever you need it, wherever you are.

Empty Nest: Poems for Families edited by Carol Ann Duffy

Oof, this anthology had me wailing and my kid was only eleven when I read it. I say this because this anthology of poems, curated by Carol Ann Duffy, centres around the bond between parents and their children, specifically the moments when that bond is tested, or moves on, or moves away; when kids grow up, and possibly, probably leave home.

It's a focus I've never seen in poetry much, but it is one of the moments of life where I think heartstrings are so heavily tested, and rarely captured with the grief and beauty of this book. Mainly, I'm grateful someone has put together a collection that says, yes, that shift in life is really hard.

Best read: in your child's bedroom, that they still kind of live in, but mainly in the holidays. Or if you don't have a child, best read in bed, with a glass of water by your side.

Collections

Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins

I think, think, maybe Billy Collins is my favourite poet, and this book is stuffed full of my absolute joys of his: 'The Trouble With Poetry', 'Genius', 'Gold' to name a few. He's the coolest poet I've watched – online as he's in the USA, though I'd love so much to see him live. He gave daily poetry readings on Facebook during lockdown that my boyfriend told me about and I fell for him and his work there. He's now 84 and incredible.

I love poetry that can make people laugh but is equally beautiful. Reading his poems is like a stroll with a beer (if I liked beer) and friend you can hurl laughter with, then cry into. There's a poem called 'Hell' that begins, "I have a feeling that it is much worse than shopping for a mattress at a mall". It's one of my favourite first lines.

Best read: in the park, on a bench, watching birds and people pass by.

Blood Salt Spring by Hannah Lavery

I found this book because of a really ridiculous bad review of it in a paper. If I see critics really angry at or belittling of poetry books, I tend to give them a try because they're often the books I like the most – both historically and now. The review suggested that because the critic was a white, Oxford-educated man, then he probably wasn't the readership for this book by a mixed-race woman writing about her upbringing. I rolled my eyes at such a silly statement; Wilfred Owen is one of my favourite poets, but I've never been a male soldier in WWI so should I not read it because I can't relate?!

I fell in love with Hannah's poetry pretty instantaneously. It is soft and warming and strong. I've watched her live now and toured with her and her voice is the same. Her newer book, Unwritten Woman, I could have chosen too. Read them both.

Best read: on a sofa with a hot ginger tea and honey.

Manorism by Yomi Sode

This isn't an easy collection but it is brilliant and it is worth all your time. So, take your time with it, don't worry if you don't 'get' each poem on first read. Read them again. Look up the references. Have a slice of toast and read them again. I like the dense page-filling poems in this collection. I delve in and out of them a lot. Watch Yomi online, he's an extraordinary reader, performer, person – then read the book again in his voice.

This collection made me sick and it made me love more, it taught me about violence and Caravaggio and caring and hearts shattered that should have been held. It is also full of other people's voices – quotes, references, remarks; I like that a lot in poetry collections, chock-full with all the inspirations.

Best read: in the barbers or hairdressers.

All the Men I Never Married by Kim Moore

The premise of this collection is brilliant: 48 poems for 48 exes and significant others. I read this from cover to cover, which is not common for me with poetry books, I tend to dip in and out. The poems are crafted beautifully and are often short (which I like!) and are also hilarious at times, tragic at others. It's like sitting with someone's exquisitely written diary and journeying through their life of love and loss and lust and laughter. Also, Kim often plays the trumpet at live readings and is brilliant at that too.

Best read: at home with a candle lit, and a glass of wine during the gloaming.

The Cat Prince & Other Poems by Michael Pedersen

This is a gorgeous collection of poems that allow me to see much better into the crushes, crises and conundrums of young straight boys attempting to work themselves out in a world that gives them so little leeway to be vulnerable. The theme of this book caught my attention, but the language caught my heart. The writing is exquisite, jam-packed in every bite with the most industrious of metaphor and simile; Michael has a passion for the vocabulary of the English language like none I have known. And it's funny. And it's smutty. And it's gooey.

Best read: on a train gazing through the glass moving from one city to the next.

The Essential June Jordan by June Jordan, edited by Jan Heller Levi and Christoph Keller

I got thrown out of a gallery in London because of this book. I had an hour before a gig and I hate turning up to gigs early so I went into this free art gallery and walked around trying to look as if I didn't feel awkward. This book was tied up against one of the walls. I started reading and felt like the words were belting love and fury at me. I'd never heard of her: a love poet amidst the Black Arts Movement and fight for civil rights in the USA.

I got the urge to write, got out my notepad and sat on the floor, reading more and writing notes about it all until someone came over and told me it was an art gallery not an office. I skirted off, red-faced, then bought the book the next day, slightly annoyed looking back at the way I was yelled at for getting excited about a book in an exhibition!

Best read: in an art gallery you'll be asked to leave soon.

Lady by Laurie Bolger

This is a very new collection and an absolute joy to delve into. Again, there is humour amongst the heartache. I love to laugh, I love to cry, I do these in equal measures in this collection. I think these poems are so inviting, which makes sense because the author is one of the poets I know who runs a huge number of online creative workshops for anyone and everyone who wants to give poetry a try. That's not to say they're simple, but the book is very welcoming. It speaks directly to you, like a chat with a friend; a friend who is exceedingly good at writing beautiful metaphors.

Best read: in a local pub next to a friend reading beside you.

Tell Me by Kim Addonizio

I love Kim Addonizio for similar reasons I love blues, dirty blues in particular. Her poetry makes me remember my body, remember the heat and softness of it, the lust and love and loss and longing and how important the connection is between my brain and my breasts; it makes me feel like my blood is as smooth as my favourite foundation and I need to stop being ashamed of having skin and smiling about that. I love the poem 'What Do Women Want?'.

Best read: in bed in the summer sweating below sheets with a lover asleep at your side, their leg draped comfortingly over you. Or else alone, with a pillow between your legs and sun or moonlight pouring through the window.