Ada Limón “Bright Dead Things”
Bright Dead Things is the best contemporary poetry collection I’ve read. Ashbery won the trifecta for Self-Portrait and Limón should have too.
Mary Ann Samyn “My Life in Heaven”
MAS poems have featherweight elements that I seem to often require. I believe she is among our best living poets.
E.M. Cioran “All Gall is Divided”
Cioran writes nihilistic aphorisms that I find both inspiring and humorous, often in the same instance. Alongside Camus, this is one of my favorite bedtime reads.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – “Essays and Lectures” (The Library of America series)
Emerson has shaped and re-shaped my worldview. His essays are powerful and timeless.
Chuck Klosterman “I Wear the Black Hat”
I enjoy listening to Klosterman read his own work. This is my version of a day at the beach.
Mark Danowsky is author of the poetry collection As Falls Trees (NightBallet Press, 2018). He’s Managing Editor for the Schuylkill Valley Journal.