BOOKS

Looking for some poetry inspiration? Whether you want to be the next Rupi Kaur, Sylvia Plath or Emily Dickinson, these books will give you the push in the right direction to encourage you to pursue your poetry career. 

1. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Rupi Kaur shares her life story through her short poems. Her book is divided into four chapters: The Hurting, The Loving, The Breaking and The Healing. Each chapter deals with a specific area of her life in order to express her journey of struggle and acceptance. Bonus points: Each poem also includes an illustration that Kaur drew herself to keep the small details of her poems and to make them more personable. With Kaur's poems, you can be sure that one of them will speak to you and make you rethink your entire idea of poetry.

2. The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur
In Rupi Kaur’s sequel, The Sun and Her Flowers continues her journey of loving, healing and acceptance through her poems. Kaur focuses on themes of migration, femininity, loss, trauma and much more. With such a wide range of diverse and beautiful poems, you’ll want to laugh and cry...and feel inspired to begin your poetry career. Although Kaur’s sequel touches on many different topics from her first book, she still included her own drawings to preserve the originality of her books.  

3. The Princess Saves Herself in this One by Amanda Lovelace
Who says you need a prince charming to swoop you off your feet? In Amanda Lovelace's book, her poetry will remind you to put yourself first, along with the fact that you don't need a man to be complete (go female empowerment!). Her short but powerful poems send an important message of self-love to inspire young girls to accept themselves. Lovelace's poetry deals with serious topics that will inspire you to dig deep and confront your emotions in the best way. So if you're ready for some awesome female empowerment, The Princess Saves Herself in this One is a must read.

4. Love Her Wild: Poems by Atticus
Atticus, the anonymous poet who refuses to reveal his identity by wearing a mask, has captured the hearts of thousands with his huge Instagram following. His poems mainly deal with the theme of love; whether it's heartbreak or falling in love, we all wish that we had a man like Atticus to write beautiful poetry about us. Even better, all of his poems come with a drawing to really get his message across and touch the heart's of his readers, like you. So the next time you're feeling a little blue and think that romance is dead, pick up Atticus's book Love Her Wild: Poems to restore your faith in romance. 

5. Her Favorite Color Was Yellow by Edgar Holmes
For all of the hopeless romantics, this book is for you. Inspired by his wife, Edgar Holmes shows his creativity by finding unique ways to describe the wonderful, yet confusing emotion of love. Although his poems are a short, easy read, don't be fooled: they're packed with tons of raw emotion, and we can only hope that one day we'll experience the type of love that Holmes's talks about in his poems. 

Who's your favorite poet and why? Let us know down below in the comments!

by Jamie Denton | 6/13/2018