Spell the Month in Books was brought to life by Jana at Reviews From The Stacks. The challenge is to spell the current month using the first letters of book titles (full details here), and while there are some suggested themes, the selections are really up to the blogger/reader.

Since April is National Poetry Month, this round’s theme (again, optional) is poetry books. To spell out the month, I’ve chosen poetry collections that are on my general/sweeping/grand TBR.

A

A Light Song of Light | Kei Miller

I can only base my admiration of Kei Miller’s writing on that in his novel Augustown, but I do not doubt that reading more of his work will bring about more admiration. Lucky for me, this collection is available on Scribd, so I will [hopefully] get to it sooner rather than later.

P

Poems of Paul Celan | Paul Celan (translated by Paul Hamburger)

Paul Celan’s poems are known to be quite powerful and intense. His parents were victims of the Holocaust, and he too was kept prisoner in a work camp during WWII – these experiences influenced much of his work, among other pieces of his life.

R

Selected Poems | Rita Dove

Slightly cheating with this selection, but Rita Dove’s name begins with an R so it works for me. Rita Dove was the US Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995, and her work is historical, reflective, and Pulitzer Prize winning.

I

If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho | Sappho (translated by Anne Carson)

This collection was assigned in one of my undergraduate courses, and I could not have been more underwhelmed by it. I am able to see now that my feelings toward these fragments had a lot to do with the lack of contextual and historical conversations surrounding them and Sappho in that course, so I want to reread it with my fresh (awakened, more open?) eyes.

L

Lighthead | Terrance Hayes

Terrance Hayes won the National Book Award for this collection, which “braid[s] dream and reality into a poetry [collection] that is both dark and buoyant.” Terrance Hayes utilizes different forms in his poems, which I’m quite interested in seeing and reading for myself.

If you are interested in or curious about any of these or other poets, I recommend searching the Poetry Foundation’s website or Poetry International. And if you have any poetry resources or recommendations to share, please do so below.