I’ve never done one of these kinds of posts before, so bear with me here, homedogs.

So, I’ve got a lot of poetry reading to-do and done lately, and I thought it’d be nice to accumulate all my reads into one spot. I mean, basically, all I read is poetry and magazines. (I suck at reading, contrary to most other authors…) But, I got a bunch of poetry books for Christmas, and they’ve been sitting in my “book queue”, which is a pile hidden behind my guitar in the corner of my bedroom, for a few months now, which really bothers me. I like my book queue to be zero, honestly, as big stacks of reading material gives me anxiety…

Anxieties aside, now, though, let me share with you all the things I’ve been reading lately and plan to read next!

So…

#1: Amanda Lovelace–The Mermaid’s Voice Returns in This One

This is one I got for x-mas, and I actually asked for it so I could complete my Amanda Lovelace “Women are some kind of magic” series. I just finished it the other week, and I think it was… well, decent. I don’t know, guys, I probably suck at rating stuff, too, but I haven’t liked any of Amanda’s books as much as her very first one, “The Princess Saves Herself in This One”, which I have, too!

I actually loved that one so much, I’m debating buying the Spanish copy of it, too. And, no, that’s actually not a joke, haha…

However, back to the “Mermaid” one… It was actually pretty good, just not as good as the “Princess” one. What I liked about it, though, is that it did include poems by other female poets toward the end.

#2: Amanda Lovelace–Break Your Glass Slippers

Ha, guess what, another Amanda collection on the list! But, honestly, I think she’s my favorite (living) poet right now, and so one of my friends just got me this book for Christmas, also. I actually wasn’t planning to buy it and just read it at the library, but since I now have it and it’s the first book in another poetry series, I guess I’ll have to read it multiple times and buy the next one out! I have yet to start it, though…

#3: Sylvia Plath–The Collected Poems

I have yet to start this massive stack of pages, but it’s another I got over the holidays and is now sitting in my pile. I have been wanting to get it for a while now, though, because, hey, it’s Plath. I think I’ve read a few of her poems, but only on, like, that Poetry Finder website, so it doesn’t really count. I just know she was very similar to and close friends with my favorite (deceased) poet, Anne Sexton, so I have high hopes!

#4: Courtney Peppernell–Pillow Thoughts

I bought this book for myself a while ago and read it when I did get it, but I got it back out recently and started re-reading. I think it’s still not my favorite, but it is worth a couple of reads. It’s from the same publisher that Amanda Lovelace goes with, Andrews McMeel, and they publish a lot of current poets, so it’s definitely, I guess, made to be on-trend. I don’t really know how else to describe that, but if you like capitalization and structure in the poems you read, then don’t pick this up… haha.

#5: Rupi Kaur–Home Body

I checked this one out from the library a couple of months ago when I saw it sitting on the “new” shelf. I have Rupi’s first book, “Milk and Honey”, which everyone is probably sick of hearing/seeing at this point. Honestly, though, I think “Home Body” is even better than her debut collection, and I debated buying it after getting it from the library. I held back, though, because, you know, money. But I recommend anyone who knows and somewhat likes Rupi to give this one a try because it still has the same style as her previous work, though the themes and junk are more interesting this time around.

#6: Halsey–I Would Leave Me If I Could: A Collection of Poetry

I checked this book out when I got that last one, too, and I did it mostly out of pure curiosity because… like, the author is THE Halsey? Yeah, it is, and I was super surprised that this book is… honestly, a gem. I think I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads because… damn, like it’s just that good. It’s not the “on-trend” kind of poetry I mentioned above and it’s not overly-structured or formal; it’s really just written like songs that are meant to be read, which makes sense coming from a pop singer.

And… that’s all I have for now!

Let me know if you have any of these on your queue… or if you’ve already read them!

–Kari