Angie Estes

Angie Estes has a great poem in Plume issue 3 from 2011 called "Che Fai Di Bello", it's very 'Italiana'-esque if that made-up word can be used. It's a great piece, very grounding, ancient and resounding; here's an excerpt:

They are burning the fields in

Assisi, unearthing tartufi from beneath Umbrian oaks

for the umpteenth time. So slow

they don’t even shuffle, black

and swelling, tartufi think

[...]

Linda Pastan

Some poems are best savored line by line, and others are made with cleanly drawn lines. Few poems of that type survive well today, other than the popular American writers Whitman and Poe. Plume issue 2 from 2011 had a great piece in this vein called "Late in October" by Linda Pastan, here's an excerpt--if you like it, read the whole thing because the end is interesting and dangerous, a subtle moment:

Late in October, I watch
it all unravel–the whole
autumn leafery
succumbing to rain.
At the moment
of their most intense beauty,
reds and yellows bleed

[...]

Peter Meinke

There's a great poem by Peter Meinke in Plume, issue 2 from 2011 called "A Fable: The Floss-Silk Tree and the Philodendron". It's mystery is what makes it great, here's an excerpt:

In Brazil they call the floss-silk  palo borracho
“drunken tree”  because each blossom opens
like a provocative dancer at Carnaval

and though the philodendron’s
a low and homely vine  it still winds along
the thorny trunk   toward the swaying flowers
Orpheus straining for Eurydice
its small leaves enlarging alarmingly
like the hearts of wanton gods

[...]

Christopher Kennedy

Americana is on the rise at the moment, and in honor of that, let's take a look at a great poem, "Poem for Shang Qin" by Christopher Kennedy, from Plume issue 1, 2011. Americana encompasses many things, from the Puritans and Nathaniel Hawthorne to Whitman and Lana del Rey. In a way, it's a huge spiral of connections both old and new. This poem has an incredible feel to it, one that resonates in a way with this theme:

I’ve been digging my way toward you since the day I was born. I watch the lamplight outside my window turn to diamonds and think of you. A dog barks in my sleep, and I dream of you eating figs under a banyan tree. In the morning, I look at the hopeful yellow sun. I think, What is the old master doing right now? Cursing the darkness? 

[...]

Kristin Roedell & Jeremiah Burrow

Kristin Roedell has a great short piece in 4and20Poetry, from Oct. 2012, vol. 5, issue 10, called only "*":

Hushed and holy 

beauty comes in on white feet 

and the smell of hyacinth.

Both pieces highlighted here today have a sense of Shelley transfigured by the Beats. They're excellent work. The other great short piece is one by Jeremiah Burrow, in the same journal issue, called "Boulder":

I saw black sun rising out of earth to eat the last golden rays of day.

Amanda Schoen

Usually I don't highlight truly narrative poems, ones with a clear story that could be spoken or told in prose, but Amanda Schoen's "Dún Aonghasa" from Dialogist, vol. 1 issue 3, is an exception, it's great and works on multiple levels. It's interesting and eerie, it has a story but is more than that simple tale. It provokes without being cliche or into shock; it raises real unanswerable questions, almost philosophically.

Here's an excerpt:

[...]

Was it always so? Did wind and rain see the break of these stones?

Call it watchtower. Oracle. Garrison. The names we offer say more of us
than those who came before. No one’s sure what to make of these stones.

[...]

Robert Davey

Short poems are enjoyable in a different way than long or middle-length ones. You don't have to read the Japanese haiku masters Basho or Buson, though they are incredible. For something more modern try Robert Davey's "Bronze Age" from Sept. 2012, vol. 5 issue 9 of 4and20Poetry. This piece is great, it captures how haiku are still a form with incredible potential and can be really moving and eerie:

morning sun on 

standing stones 

the dark symbol in 

the horse’s eye