After reading Kate Tempest’s Hold Your Own recently, I went to a poetry evening with my parents. Collectively, these two events sparked a reemergence of love for poetry as a form that never fails to give me a quick shot of inspiration straight into the bloodstream. The result of this rekindling of love, is that I’m desperate to get my hands on more, so these are 5 anthologies I desperately want to read.
1. Let Them Eat Chaos by Kate Tempest
After reading her collection Hold Your Own, I just want to read everything Kate Tempest has even written. Her style has incredible power and prowess, and I can scarcely think of any other books or poetry that can capture feeling within a word so perfectly, and express emotions so intensely. Let Them Eat Chaos is about seven neighbours in London who have never met but are brought together one night by a huge storm. It’s one long, epic poem and I suspect it’ll be amazing.
2. The Princess Saves Herself In This One by Amanda Lovelace
I’ve heard nothing but great reviews of Amanda Lovelace’s first poetry anthology and I’m desperate to get my hands on it.
As a powerful feminist piece of work, it explores themes of gender, mental health, loss, being LGBTQIA+, and love. The anthology is split into four sections: the princess, the damsel, the queen, and you.
I’ve seen a lot of my blogging and twitter friends emphasising how good this collection is and I can’t wait too add it to my shelves.
3. Even This Page Is White by Vivek Shraya
This is another debut piece of work and similar to The Princess Saves Herself in This One it’s also been very well received.
Shraya is also an author and multidisciplinary artist, and her anthology explores racism and white privilege through the idea of our skin and how it can define us.
Shraya is a trans person of colour, so this anthology is own voices, and has been compared to Claudia Rankine’s Citizen for how powerful it is.
4. A Place Called No Homeland by Kai Cheng Thom
This anthology isn’t actually released until May 2017, but I know immediately after reading the synopsis that I wanted to read it.
The poems are set in a mythical place where the ghosts of ancestors and monstrous women provoke readers into considering the interlinking ways in which land and body impact on our lives.
The anthology explores gender, violence, race, and sexuality – all issues I’m interested in – and is said to be inspired by spoken word styles. The poet is also transgender, making this another own voices collection.
5. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
This is another collection I’ve seen getting high praise on Goodreads, Twitter and in the blogging sphere, and I really want to check it out.
This anthology is split into four sections (like The Princess Saves Herself In This One), or chapters, and each deals with a different theme.
Kaur explores love, violence, femininity and loss, and aims to remind readers of poignant memories in life. At it’s heart, Milk and Honey is about survival.
Have you read any of these poetry collections? What did you think? If you have any other recommendations for me to check out then let me know in the comments!
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