Anyone out there have a favorite poet? Someone who made you want to write?

I liked Emily Dickinson in school because what she wrote was simple, honest and easy to understand. I still like that.

From the classics I would have to say Keats and Robert Browning from my A-Level English days at school.

However, as an adult and aspiring poet I have leant heavily on the music poets like Dylan and Cohen.
The lyrics of 'Everybody Knows' is pretty unsurpassable for me,

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guy lost

Brilliant words!!!

Says just about everything anyone might need to know.

I always think the best poets are actually poets, not rock stars.
Wordsworth, Larkin, Donne...

Hard to argue about Larkin, Auden, Heaney....I guess it depends on the weather in your head at the time of asking.

I am fond of Mary Austin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Hunter_Austin

One of her poems I really like:
"I arise, facing east,
I am asking toward the light:
I am asking that my day
Shall be beautiful with light,
I am asking that the place
Where my feet are shall be light,
That as far as I can see
I shall follow it aright.
I am asking for the courage
To go forward through the shadow.
I am asking toward the light!"

This poem has also been put to music.
https://youtu.be/vNdlcWD0yxE?feature=shared

PS, Both Dylan and Cohen are poets.

Clive James, John Cooper Clarke

I also like Joy Harjo (she was a poet laureate some years back)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Harjo

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46545/eagle-poem

Strangely I never expected to like Clive James but I found his poetry surprisingly engaging.

George Formby “She’s a peach but understand she’s called a peach because she’s always canned”.
Benny Hill “But Gus the gardener’s left now and you went with him too. The fungus there reminds me of the fun Gus’s having with you”
Les Barker
John Betjeman
Kipling
Leonard Cohen

Spike Milligan, for instance in 'Values'67' :

Pass by citizen
don't look left or right
Keep those drip dry eyes straight ahead
A tree? Chop it down- it's a danger
to lightning!
Pansies calling for water,
Let 'em die- queer bastards-
Seek comfort in the scarlet, labour
saving plastic rose
Fresh with the fragrance of Daz!
Sunday! Pray citizen;
Pray no rain will fall
On your newly polished
Four wheeled
God

Some of his views and poems were controversial, of course, but the man had genius.

Larkin, of course, but also Sean O'Brien, who smuggles in a lot of often oblique references to railways in his poetry

I think I’d go with Ali ibn Talib. His profound words and wisdom guide me toward understanding my higher purpose.

Thanks Yanma, I looked up Ali ibn Talib and I really liked it, especially these quotes of wisdom.

The best deed of a great man is to forgive and forget.

A graceful refusal is better than a lengthy promise.

He who trusts the world, the world betrays him.

Courtesy costs nothing, but buys everything.

I'll go with my top three.
Mary Oliver
Wendell Berry
Gary Snyder
They each possess a unique ability to illuminate the profound beauty and interconnectedness of the natural world.

One of my favorite by Mary Oliver is To Begin With, the Sweet Grass

...Look, and look again.
This world is not just a little thrill for the eyes.

It’s more than bones.
It’s more than the delicate wrist with its personal pulse.
It’s more than the beating of the single heart.
It’s praising.
It’s giving until the giving feels like receiving.
You have a life—just imagine that!
You have this day, and maybe another, and maybe
still another.

Thank you, Marla, glad to hear that. He is the son-in-law of the last Prophet whom we, as Muslims, believe in. You won’t find his words related to violence, cursing, or anything like that. His words feel soothing and sometimes can even address the problems we are going through. At least, that’s what I feel from his words.

Thank you Marla for starting this discussion! I am enjoying checking out the various poets who people like.

Naomi,
I just read Wild Geese by Mary Oliver. I can see why you connect with her poetry. I found it to be beautiful.
Thanks for sharing.
Marla

I came late to poetry. From schooldays, I guess liked the war poets, Wordsworth and Donne. But never bothered much with poetry after that until I retired. Since then I like Spike Milligan, Clive James and Roger McGough, but my favourite is Seamus Heaney. His 'Mid Term Break' just kicked me in the gut the first time I read it.

Trevor
I looked up the poets you mentioned. I like Roger McGough's poem best about trees. Here's a link. https://x.com/McgoughRoger/status/1729241152417833002

Thanks!
Marla

Here is a favorite Emily Dickinson poem that has a lot of wit and passion for her craft of poetry.

https://www.poetryinamerica.org/episode/i-cannot-dance-opon-my-toes/

Really enjoyed the link to Emily Dickinson's poem, Marla. Thank you! I did not know about the Poetry in America website with all the engaging poetry videos. Really cool!

Hélène,

So glad you liked it. I came across it when they ran a Poetry In America special on PBS, (I thought it was a cool too.)

Marla

For me it has to be Robert Frost, the simplicity of his expression always blows me way.

Highly recommend 'Leaves compared with flowers', it is certainly not one of his most well known works, but enthralls me to this day.

Unlike the commentators on this thread, I am very 'underread' when it comes to poetry. Therefore, I don't have a favourite poet, so I'm grateful for some of the suggestions and will aim to rectify my lack of knowledge. Who knows, it might cause my own work to head off in different directions?

Here is a link to Robert Frost/Leaves Compared with Flowers that James R recommended. It includes an analysis that I think is very good.

https://allpoetry.com/Leaves-Compared-With-Flowers

Thanks to James and Robert for posting!

Marla