Federico Garcia Lorca – Selected Poems
Federico Garcia Lorca is the reason I write poetry. His work is pure lyric, and always goes to the depths. I read the poems in Spanish but the New Directions Selected poems provides helpful translations, which I need for some words.
Li–Young Lee – Rose
Li-Young Lee writes poetry that makes sense to me. The images open with unforced revelation.
John Haines – Winter News
John Haines’ poetry is like walking into an empty room and seeing all the way across a forest through an open window.
Gwendolyn Brooks – A Street in Bronzeville
For the music, the immaculate form, the depth of insight. “I keep eyes pointed inward,” I think about that line all the time.
Galway Kinnell – The Book of Nightmares
Because I have bad dreams, and this book understands what that is like.
Claire Millikin is a poet and scholar. She is the author of six full-length books of poetry, including After Houses-Poetry for the Homeless (2Leaf Press 2014) and Ransom Street (2Leaf Press 2019), as well as State Fair Animals (Unicorn Press 2018) and Television (Unicorn Press 2016).