The Poet’s Bookshelf

What book can no poet do without? That’s the question we ask every poet who teaches or writes for us. The Poet’s Bookshelf is a fantasy library containing one title – poetry or prose – recommended by each and every poet who comes through our doors. If you’re stuck for inspiration, why not have a browse?

Olio  by Tyehimba Jess. Added by Roy McFarlane, Spring 2019 tutor. “A tour de force of poetry”

Fire to Fire  by Mark Doty. Added by Miriam Darlington, Spring 2019 tutor.

Literature and the Gods  by Roberto Calasso, trans. Tim Parks. Added by Phillis Levin, Spring 2019 tutor.

Late Empire  by Lisa Olstein. Added by Anthony Anaxagorou, Spring 2019 tutor and Verve Performance Lecturer

Five Movements in Praise  by Sharmistha Mohanty. Added by Vahni Capildeo, Spring 2019 tutor and Poetry Playback reader.

The Art of Description  by Mark Doty. Added by Tamar Yoseloff, MA in Writing Poetry tutor.

Jackself  by Jacob Polley. Added by Penny Boxall, Spring 2019 tutor.

Tales of Love  by Julia Kristeva, trans. Leon S. Roudiez. Added by Karen Whiteson, Spring 2019 tutor.

Logograms  by Christian Dotremont. Added by SJ Fowler, Spring 2019 tutor.

Collected Poems of Edwin Morgan. Added by Simon Barraclough, Spring 2019 tutor.

Interview with Francis Bacon  by David Sylvester. Added by Alex MacDonald, Spring 2019 tutor.

Conjure  by Michael Donaghy. Added by Ros Barber, Spring 2019 tutor.

The Second Life  by Edwin Morgan. Added by Richard Price, Spring 2019 tutor. “So formally ranging it’s as if Morgan is populating the scene with different ways a poem might be”

A Poet’s Glossary  by Edward Hirsch. Added by Jacqueline Saphra, Spring 2019 tutor. “This book is on my desk at all times: an encyclopaedia of definitions and sources described with a poet’s voice and sensibility.”

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters  by J.D. Salinger. Added by Kathryn Maris, Spring 2019 tutor. “Or any work of fiction that you, personally, love.”

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities  by Chen Chen. Added by Wayne Holloway-Smith, Spring 2019 tutor.

The Rough Field  by John Montague. Added by Steve Ely, Spring 2019 tutor.

The Rock  by Wallace Stevens. Added by William Wootten, Spring 2019 tutor. “A book to grow old with.”

A Cure for Woodness  by Michael Haslam. Added by Meryl Pugh, Spring 2019 tutor.

Einstein’s Dreams  by Alan Lightman. Added by Tania Hershman, Spring 2019 tutor. “Gorgeous poetic prose, a meditation on time”.

The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms  by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland. Added by Patrick Wright, Spring 2019 tutor.

WHEREAS  by Layli Long Soldier. Added by Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Spring 2019 tutor. “It’s a book which continues to teach me… how we can use language to hold to account the oppressions that are written into and with it.”

Curves to the Apple  by Rosmarie Waldrop. Added by Elżbieta Wójcik-Leese, co-curator of the Transreading series of courses.

Float  by Anne Carson. Added by Wanda O’Connor, Spring 2019 tutor.

The Book of Demons  by Barry MacSweeney. Added by Tom Chivers, Spring 2019 tutor. “A transformative & irrepressible collection.”

Collected Poems  by Donald Justice. Added by Jodie Hollander, Spring 2019 tutor.

No Language is Neutral  by Dionne Brand. Added by Richard Georges, Spring 2019 tutor and Poetry Playback performer.

The Weather  by Lisa Robertson. Added by JR Carpenter, Spring 2019 tutor.

Here Comes the Night  by Alan Gillis. Added by Jonathan Edwards, Spring 2019 tutor.

The Double Axe and Other Poems  by Robinson Jeffers. Added by André Naffis-Sahely, Spring 2019 tutor. “Its brave, pacifist message makes it one of the greatest collection of anti-war poetry ever published.”

Her Birth  by Rebecca Goss. Added by Christina Thatcher, Spring 2019 tutor.

Wild Geese  by Mary Oliver. Added by Rachel Piercey, Spring 2019 tutor. “Sharp, clean air for the brain and the soul.”

Homo Poeticus  by Danilo Kiš. Added by Sarah Byrne, Spring 2019 tutor.

Deep Lane  by Mark Doty. Added by Seán Hewitt, Spring 2019 tutor.

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Added by Bridget Minamore, Spring 2019 tutor.

A Discourse on Vegetation and Motion by Frances Kruk. Added by Sascha Akhtar, Spring 2019 tutor.