Listmania!
The Best Poetry Anthologies & Manuals worth paying full price for
By an Amazon.com customer
The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning PoetsThe Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets by Ted Kooser
Buy new: $9.86 / Used from: $3.49
Great for beginners and advanced alike! Easy to read, easy to understand, easy to use.
Asian American Poetry: The Next GenerationAsian American Poetry: The Next Generation
Buy new: $17.05 / Used from: $11.37
a great collection of some of today's best writers! the imagery here will blow you away!
Poetry 180: A Turning Back to PoetryPoetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry
Buy new: $10.04 / Used from: $3.98
You could just go to the website and read these for free but there is something about a book in the hand, eh?
180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day
Buy new: $10.85 / Used from: $7.95
see above
The Yale Younger Poets Anthology (Yale Series of Younger Poets)The Yale Younger Poets Anthology (Yale Series of Younger Poets)
Buy new: $21.00 / Used from: $0.78
You may want to read this backwards ather than start at some poets from a century ago! All of these poets are influential and have won this award for a reason! It is one of the best first book prizes a poet can win!
The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and WritingThe Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing by Richard Hugo
Buy new: $9.86 / Used from: $2.75
If you don't know this, stop reading, buy, and get busy reading it!
The Jazz Poetry Anthology (A Midland Book)The Jazz Poetry Anthology (A Midland Book)
Buy new: $15.34 / Used from: $3.83
If you love jazz and poetry, then this is the definitive collection!
The Second Set, Vol. 2: The Jazz Poetry Anthology (The Jazz Poetry Anthology , Vol 2)The Second Set, Vol. 2: The Jazz Poetry Anthology (The Jazz Poetry Anthology , Vol 2)
Buy new: $19.95 / Used from: $2.99
see above
The Teachers and Writers Handbook of Poetic FormsThe Teachers and Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms by Edited by Ron Padgett
Buy new: $14.36 / Used from: $8.75
This has taught me so much as both a teacher and a writer but more importantly I am finally getting FORMS!
Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New FormalismRebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism
Buy used from: $1.50
a good way to dip into the new formalists....highly recommended! Many of the poems I didn't even realize were in form because they were written so well!
A Formal Feeling Comes: Poems in Form by Contemporary WomenA Formal Feeling Comes: Poems in Form by Contemporary Women
Buy new: $25.00 / Used from: $10.85
great not just for the poems themselves but for the explanations by all the poets that delves into creating poems!
The New Bread Loaf Anthology of Contemporary American PoetryThe New Bread Loaf Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry
Buy used from: $3.46
I have seen critiques write pretty harshly about this (check out Amazon's reviews) but I feel this is an excellent conference (the best of the bunch except for maybe Tupelo's conference). Well worth picking up a used copy!
Contemporary American Poetry: Behind the ScenesContemporary American Poetry: Behind the Scenes by Ryan G. Van Cleave
Buy new: $51.20 / Used from: $9.00
excellet for exercises and examples and a surprising book to get hold of!
Contemporary American PoetryContemporary American Poetry by A. Poulin
Buy new: $52.68 / Used from: $44.75
I have this but have yet to read it so why is it on the list? I trust A. poulin that much!
Contemporary American Poetry (Penguin Academics)Contemporary American Poetry (Penguin Academics) by R. S. Gwynn
Buy new: $36.31 / Used from: $13.39
Someone recommended this as well as he tends to write more formally. A great writer many dont know about for some reason (probably because there are so many nowadays!) but I think this follows along the lines of the above comment.
The Portable Poetry WorkshopThe Portable Poetry Workshop by Jack Myers
Buy new: $40.95 / Used from: $8.82
what more does an aspiring writer need?
The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier: How to Solve the Mysteries of Weak WritingThe Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier: How to Solve the Mysteries of Weak Writing by Bonnie Trenga
Buy new: $9.99 / Used from: $2.94
This is a great teaching tool, as it is fun and creative, centering each lesson about grammar around a mystery. Fun!
The Vintage Book of Contemporary American PoetryThe Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry by J.D. McClatchy
Buy new: $12.24 / Used from: $6.21
Another great anthology to get one's hands on and get into the contemporaries!
A Drifting Boat: Chinese Zen PoetryA Drifting Boat: Chinese Zen Poetry
Buy new: $17.00 / Used from: $9.14
great collection of poetry by Chinese writers!