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Modern Poetry Anthology Ideas


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I purchased, The Top 100 Poems, by Columbia University Press. It has Geoffrey Chaucer to one by Sylvia Plath. The kids and myself have been going through it together. Well, I've been reading aloud one a day. I don't even know where to look for more modern poets, but I'd love a list of more modern-day poems to read aloud to the kids in the morning. I'd love to hear poets you like or an anthology or publisher that puts out a collection of modern day poems. I have tried googling, but I am not necessarily looking for a certain genre, "modern", as much as more recent collections of poems. 

I remember reading of a woman who recently passed that wrote poetry. I couldn't remember her name. Could someone help me out? I believe she frequently wrote about nature (very vague, sorry). 

And, I'd love to hear any poets/anthologies/collections, etc that you enjoy. 

Thank you! 

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The Poetry for Young People series has volumes highlighting many modern poets (Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Edna St. Vincent Millay, amoung others). This series usually contains poems from a single poet per volume, though it looks like they have some collections of works from multiple poets (American Poetry, Etc). NB, the series is meant to be an introduction to that poet, so longer works are usually abridged - they may only include the first few stanzas. 

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websites
- The Poets.org website has a list of "Poems Kids Like" -- 19th and 20th century poets/poems
- Library of Congress website article: "Poetry 180" -- links to a list of 180 poems from the 20th century (one per day of school) for high school students, collated by poet Billy Collins (former US Poet Laurette)

anthologies
Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry includes works from a lot of contemporary (still living! lol) poets I recognize. The collection is arranged by birthdate of the poets, so only a few at the beginning who were born/started writing in the last half of the 19th century, and it goes up to poets born in the early 1970s (so, being published at the end of the 20th century). I only looked at the table of contents, and didn't read any of the poems to know how interesting or accessible they would be to kids (it is an adult anthology).

books of poetry for children
If your kids are younger (kinder/elementary through early middle school ages), you might enjoy some of these collections of poems:
Random House Book of Poetry for Children -- 600 classic short poems accessible to children, grouped by subject matter; authors range from 16th-20th century
- Poetry Speaks -- 90 poems from 20th century poets
- 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury -- 200 poems written for children by 20th century poets
Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reverso Poems (Singer) -- each poem based on a fairy tale; when read top to bottom, it reveals one character's thoughts; read bottom to top, it shows a completely different character's perspective!

Also, you might enjoy Tanya Runyan's How to Read a Poem: Based on Billy Collins' "Introduction to Poetry" -- *very* helpful for appreciating poetry, without over-analyzing.

Edited by Lori D.
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