by The Academy of American Poets
Sometimes I really prefer to read a poetry anthology rather than the work of one particular poet. In my nightly practice of reading a handful of poems before picking up my current novel, the chances of running across something that really resonates seems greater among a variety of authors. This anthology spans centuries of poetry in thematic chapters about spirituality, grief, social justice, the environment, the body, and desire. Former national Poet Laureate Richard Blanco kicks it off with a persuasive introduction about why people who haven’t read a poem since high school might want to give poetry another try. “It would be silly to say that you don’t like music because you heard a song you didn’t like. Yet we often treat poetry this way, as if all poems are the same.”