Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

A Collection of At Least 24 Poems

My workout buddy and fellow instructor at the gym has a book of poems and there are more than 24 of them. However, she is not yet listed on Goodreads, so I'll have to make sure she gets that done! I don't read poetry very often, so will have to rely on you-all for suggestions!

One Goodreads listopia that might help:
"Best Poetry Books"

Listopia is HERE

Sweet, love this prompt!

I recently wrote a book of poetry that has over 24 poems so I might cheat and go with that.

But then I also own a lot of poetry so many of them have over 24.

I'm going with In the Hour of War: Poetry from Ukraine
Others I loved and recommend (I checked and they all have 24+ poems):
Bright Dead Things
The Carrying: Poems
Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry
Weather Central
Postcolonial Love Poem
The Twenty-Ninth Year
Gathering the Tribes
Somewhere, a Woman Lowers the Hem of Her Skirt
What Is This Thing Called Love: Poems

The Love Poems of Lord Byron: A Romantic's Passion

Lynn- the Listopia link isn't working...

I'm currently reading Doctor Zhivago. There are 25 poems at the end of the book. So, technically it would count.

One of my favorite poetry collections is The Poets Laureate Anthology which would also work as librarian recommendation or bookseller recommendation as I am both.

The link for our created listopia doesn't seem to work for me, anyone else?

Currently reading The Complete Poems by Percy Byshe Shellet - another of the Romantic Poets

For this one I'm going to cheat a little. I recently self-published a poetry book this year that has 95 poems in it.

Ron wrote: "For this one I'm going to cheat a little. I recently self-published a poetry book this year that has 95 poems in it."

That is a lot of poetry! Congrats! Is it listed on Goodreads?

Lynn wrote: That is a lot of poetry! Congrats! Is it listed on Goodreads?

Thanks. And yes, it is.

Here are the books. The first book has 60 poems, but the second book is a 2nd edition of the first and includes the 95 poems.

1.) Requiem of Youth: A Collection of Poems

2.) Requiem of Youth

For Star Wars fans, you may like I Wish I Had a Wookiee: And Other Poems for Our Galaxy.

Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends is also a collection I remember liking.

Oh, I haven't read any Mary Oliver, but think I may choose that for this prompt

Specifically I have this one on my list. A Thousand Mornings: Poems

That's cool, Britany. Mary Oliver has a lot of good work.

If you like dogs, Mary Oliver's collected Dog Songs: Poems is a wonderful short collection of 35 poems. These poems are collected from throughout her career. I think this is the first book I read by her. She really understood her dogs.


If you like short poems, The Best of Poetry in Motion: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years on Subways and Buses and Poetry in Motion: 100 Poems from the Subways and Buses are collections of some of the poems that are framed and displayed on NYC subway cars (and buses - not that I ever spend any time riding the metro buses - so slow!). These poems are selected because they are short and relevant and likely to grab the attention of a subway rider.

If you want to read a collection curated by an expert, former poet laureate Tracy K. Smith put together American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time (probably most relevant to Americans!). Current poet laureate Joy Harjo has edited a collection of Native poets, When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry. I don't think our previous laureate (and my absolute favorite poet) Ada Limon edited any collections, but I did add all of her books to our list already!

I don't think I've picked up a poetry collection since I was at school. The library has a lot of nature poetry in their digital collection. I don't usually like reading in their app but I can probably manage a few poems a day.

I have a funny, light choice and a dark choice that won a Bram Stoker Award this year for best poetry collection. I Could Pee on This by Francisco Marciuliano or Into the Forest and All the Way Through by Cynthia Pelayo.

Added works by Seamus Heaney, Noor Hindi, and Jarod K. Anderson.

I'm currently listening to Jarod's first collection, and it's wonderfully fun!

The last book of poetry I read was Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose. I enjoyed it, but she's politically outspoken, so if that's not your thing....
My favorite poem of the bunch was one that started with pancakes for breakfast and somehow ended up with anger at US politics in just the course of a page. I reread it several times and marveled at how she could get from one to the other in so few words.

I'm not sure what I'll read for this, but I'm looking forward to it. I enjoy reading poetry, I just don't do it very often.

Nadine in NY wrote: "If you like dogs, Mary Oliver's collected Dog Songs: Poems is a wonderful short collection of 35 poems. These poems are collected from throughout her career. I think this is the fir..."

Oh, well I love dogs Nadine, so now count me curious!

Britany wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "If you like dogs, Mary Oliver's collected Dog Songs: Poems is a wonderful short collection of 35 poems. These poems are collected from throughout her career. I ...


Oh, well I love dogs Nadine, so now count me curious!"




I recommend it! I included two poems in my review, so you can give it a look and see how you feel.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

For those who love horror, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a lot of poetry, including of course The Raven. I've just picked up a complete collection of his poetry, and figure I'll dip into it throughout the challenge year.
Edgar Allan Poe's Complete Poetical Works

And this wouldn't actually fit the challenge as a book of multiple poems, however I just learned of a science fiction novel written in verse, in Orkney dialect! It includes English translation. I just think this is so bizarre and fascinating I wanted to mention it. Maybe it would fit another prompt?
Deep Wheel Orcadia

I got this out the way early, with Cast Away: Poems for Our Time by Naomi Shihab Nye which I guess is for younger readers as she was a "young people's poet laureate". Some of these just seemed like random thoughts jotted down, but I kind of liked the ones that were just about litter she finds on her litter picking walks.

On the other hand I picked up Canopy: Poems by Linda Gregerson first and hadn't the faintest idea what she was on about. I'm not sure I'll be running out to read more poetry collections any time soon.

LOL forget cheating and using the poetry book I self-published, I discovered another reading challenge that calls for a collection of poems by a BIPOC author, and of course I had to go with one by Joy Harjo:

In Mad Love and War

I was thinking that you could read a verse novel for this prompt instead of a collection of poems that someone has written, right? There's a Listopia for that, and it's looooong.

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

I was reading Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics for the autobiography of a woman in rock and roll, and it hit me that it would work for this prompt, too. Full lyrics of many more than 24 songs are included in the book.

I am normally not a a poetry reader but I stumbled across Spin which is a verse novel. Since Debbie has also suggested this, do you think this would count?

Shanoe wrote: "I am normally not a a poetry reader but I stumbled across Spin which is a verse novel. Since Debbie has also suggested this, do you think this would count?"

I think so - I just read The Poet X and considered using it for this prompt, although I ended up using it for book about a writer. But I figured it was more than 24 poems collected together so it counted!

Great :) Then I have one of the more difficult categories for me already fulfilled, thanks a lot!

I read Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth by Alice Walker

Does the sun and her flowers work for this? I borrowed an ebook and didn't count as I read. Also, sometimes it wasn't super clear where one poem ended and the next one began.

If not, I'll just count the Poetry Society of Colorado anthology I'm helping to edit. :-)

I just finished Unsettled by Reem Faruqi. I volunteer as a judge for our county school district's reading quiz bowl, and this was one of my assigned books.

Unsettled is written as a series of poems that tell Nurah's story as she moves to America from Pakistan. I love it!

It's refreshing to read middle school books. I've always read the high school books. It's surprising to have these hard stories where very bad things happen, but everyone finds a way through it and out the other side. Such a nice break from reality when we get a best-case scenario!

TW: (view spoiler)[pregnancy loss, racism, racist violence – none graphic (hide spoiler)]

Finished A Thousand Mornings: Poems by Mary Oliver

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Stina wrote: "Does the sun and her flowers work for this? I borrowed an ebook and didn't count as I read. Also, sometimes it wasn't super clear where one poem ended and the next one began."

That's what I read for this prompt. I didn't exactly count either, but I think there were more than 24 poems. You're right that it is kind of hard to tell where one ends and another begins.

I have two rules for poetry: I like it to be (1) understandable, and (2) actually about something. So you can see why I chose Deborah Alma's anthology #MeToo: A women’s poetry anthology, which was really good (if depressing). Review:

http://www.lauraruthloomis.com/whats-...

365 Poems for Life: An Uplifting Collection for Every Day of the Year by Allie Esiri

Allie Esiri has many other curated poetry collections too

The Art of Floating

I just finished The Art of Floating, and it was an excellent collection of poetry. I used it for the poetry prompt in this year's challenge.

It can be used for the following prompts:

4. A book about a writer.
11. A book from a genre you typically avoid (if poetry is not your thing)
17. A book set in a travel destination on your bucket list (if you want to travel to northern Ontario or Canada)
20. A book set in the snow (many of the poems are about winters in Canada)
21. A book that was published in a year that ends with "24"
29. A book about a neurodivergent main character (the author is neurodivergent)
48. A collection of at least 24 poems

I read The Book of Delights: Essays. 5 stars

I read All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth, a poet that I've only just discovered.

The poems are deceptively simple, often just a few lines, but so well observed - they make you look again at everyday objects.

I'm currently reading The Carrying by Ada Limon. I don't read a lot of poetry so I try to read a few each day. they are very poignant yet unnerving.

I read Pathetic Literature edited by Eileen Myles. It is not just poetry, but has more than 24 poems among the works collected

I visited Emily Dickinson Museum last weekend with my family, so I am now reading The Pocket Emily Dickinson

Laura wrote: "I visited Emily Dickinson Museum last weekend with my family, so I am now reading The Pocket Emily Dickinson"

All Emily Dickinson poems can be sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas."

Laura Ruth wrote: "Laura wrote: "I visited Emily Dickinson Museum last weekend with my family, so I am now reading The Pocket Emily Dickinson"

All Emily Dickinson poems can be sung to the tune of "T..."




LOL this would be interesting, IF I knew what that song was!!

Nadine in NY wrote: LOL this would be interesting, IF I knew what that song was!!

It's an old cowboy tune. Here's one rendition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSaiy...

If you know the old coca cola jingle "I'd like to buy the world a coke" her poems also fit that tune.

It's too bad I have no idea about either of the above (which most likely stems from the fact that I wasn't raised in the US), but I do appreciate the tidbits 😃