Poetry is the type of literature that aims to arouse a centralized creative understanding of experience or a particular sense of perceptiveness using one’s emotions with the help of language and its meaning. It is a vague and intricate part of literature that showcases different kinds of emotions hidden in its text. What makes this genre beautiful is its capability to build images and communicate with the readers in the least number of words.
It has another approach of using words — language perhaps. It is not just mere storytelling with the use of narration; instead it is all about playing with words and maintaining ambiguity. This is what makes poetry intricate for it do not spoon feed the readers with its meaning but rather allows them to swim deeper into the text to find what it is all about. The world of literature is rich with inspiring and touching poems — some appears as anthologies while others are in the forms of books.
One of the most common themes that poetry tackles is mental health. It is where most authors and readers relate to and share connection with each other for almost everyone have experienced sadness, loss, grief, and other strong emotions that make them vulnerable. That said, here are some well-written and moving poetry books that you should check out!
Depression & Other Magic Tricks
Depression & Other Magic Tricks is a poetry book by renowned poet Sabrina Benaim. It was published last August 22, 2017 by Button Poetry. It is Benaim’s first published book. Although she just recently had her debut as an author, she is already a popular spoken poetry artist having performed in various platforms and had gained millions of views on youtube. Depression & Other Magic Tricks contains poems that tackle about mental health, family, and love. It chronicles the challenges and victories, and celebrations of both life and living. Included in this book is the famous poem of hers titled “Explaining My Depression to My Mother” that centers on how the persona is suffering from depression and telling all the things that she feels while dealing with her demons to her mother.
Perfect Flaws
Published last November 3, 2006 by AuthorHouse, Perfect Flaws is a collection of poems written by Timothy George Segrest. This book contains poems about the author’s personal experiences in life, especially when he was deployed into the war. The poem showcases both the horrors in his mind and in his mission as a soldier. There were a lot of demons from the persona’s past that he or she is trying to run away from in order to not relive every painful moment of it. Aside from it, this anthology also centers on how the persona’s mind starts to learn the methods on battling both depression and nightmares that bothers it. Moreover, Perfect Flaws also represent every person and their perceptions on the different stages of life. According to Timothy Segrest, “I guess this book is about something and nothing at the same time.”
Milk and Honey
Milk and Honey is one of the bestselling poetry and prose book authored by Rupi Kaur. It was published in 2014 by Andrews McMeel Publishing. It contains various poems that center on survival, which is divided into different parts. Each portion of the book has diverse relevance and connection to the life of the poet — although in poetry, not every author is the persona of the text. What makes this book a hit is its ability to send the message of every poem to the readers evoking a lot of strong feelings from them. Some of the important things that Kaur showcases in her book are being a woman, affection, violence, and abuse. Her writing style is also commendable for it traces back from her rich cultural heritage and her wish to be more connected to the readers. Her book garnered a mixture of positive and negative reviews but it has sold more than 3 million times.
Black Book of Poems
Published on May 21, 2017 independently, Black Book of Poems has been one of the best poetry books in literature. It was written by Vincent Hunayan and has reigned on the top of the bestseller chart for more than two years. Black Book of Poems appears as an anthology of well-written poems about loss, abandonment, depression, suffering, love, and religion. It received 491 ratings in Amazon and 1,391 ratings in Goodreads. There were many positive responses about this anthology. Some find it easy to read, direct, refreshing, and even humorous while others discovered the deepness and honesty of the text. Because of the book’s wonderfulness, it was included on Hilary Swank’s holiday wish list.
Live or Die
Live or Die is authored by Anne Sexton, which was published in the year 1966. It is considered as one of the classic American poetry books. Most of the poems in this anthology are in free verse, which means that it is not following a rhyming and meter scheme, while others are rhymed. The masterpieces contained in Live or Die was written by Sexton in a span of 5 years, which was from 1962 to 1966. The poems are laid down chronologically and most of the works depict an unstable mother and daughter relationship — pertaining to the poet’s relationship to her mother, as well as her daughters’ bond with her. It also tackles about how Anne undergo with her mental illness’s treatment.
Oliver’s Twist 