We have a variety of poetry resources available to our RHC community to enjoy, from books, e-books, videos, audio, and etc. If you need any assistance locating any of these wonderful resources, we're available for help through chat, Text-a-Librarian: 562-418-5253, or Library Zoom Room: Connect to Room (Live camera is not required to participate in Zoom call). If you prefer to explore on your own, search for your favorite poet in our library catalog or check out these databases:
The Apartment of Tragic Appliances by
The Apartment of Tragic Appliances, named as a finalist for a 2013 Lambda Literary Award, is a literal place in which a hapless, portable dishwasher "heats residue only to reimagine cleanliness as an art project," a recalcitrant microwave neglects to heat, and a refrigerator dies an inconvenient, bulky death. It is also that psychic space in which we consider our loneliness, our wandering hearts, our unpacked boxes, our vulgar desires.In Queer Optimism: Lyric Personhood and Other Felicitous Persuasions (Minnesota, 2007), Michael Snediker worked "in the interests of felicity" to undermine the ways in which queer theory customarily privileges shame and melancholy. Here, in his first full-length collection of poetry, he undertakes a similar upending of expectation, acknowledging "gay sadness" but refusing to fall fully under its sway.
Mexican Ballads, Chicano Poems by
Mexican Ballads, Chicano Poems combines literary theory with the personal engagement of a prominent Chicano scholar. Recalling his experiences as a student in Texas, José Limón examines the politically motivated Chicano poetry of the 60s and 70s. He bases his analyses on Harold Bloom's theories of literary influence but takes Bloom into the socio-political realm. Limón shows how Chicano poetry is nourished by the oral tradition of the Mexican corrido, or master ballad, which was a vital part of artistic and political life along the Mexican-U.S. border from 1890 to 1930.Limón's use of Bloom, as well as of Marxist critics Raymond Williams and Fredric Jameson, brings Chicano literature into the arena of contemporary literary theory. By focusing on an important but little-studied poetic tradition, his book challenges our ideas of the American canon and extends the reach of Hispanists and folklorists as well.
Poems for a Small Park by
Blodgett wrote his poems for a small park in English and some in French, but was able to have some of them translated into Cree, Michif, Chinese, and Ukrainian. This reflects Edmonton's unique multicultural ambience and the roles of diverse cultures in the making of the city. The powerful images and thoughtful metaphors in these short lyrics show readers the connections between Canadian nature (even within city limits) and the sublime, especially in the overwhelming silence we can sense outdoors - if we pay attention.
Poems of Guido Gezelle by
The Bruges-born poet-priest Guido Gezelle (1830–1899) is generally considered one of the masters of nineteenth-century European lyric poetry. At the end of his life and in the first two decades of the twentieth century, Gezelle was hailed by the avant-garde as the founder of modernFlemish poetry. His unique voice was belatedly recognised in the Netherlandsand often compared with his English contemporary Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889).In this bilingual anthology, award-winning translator Paul Vincent selects a representative picture of Gezelle’s output, from devotional through narrative, to celebratory and expressionistic. Gezelle’s favourite themes are childhood, the Flemish landscape, friendship, nature, religion and the Flemish vernacular, and his apparently simple poems conceal a sophisticated prosody and a dialogue with spiritual and literary tradition.
Where She Always Was by
n his foreword, J.D. McClatchy speaks of the musical qualities of Lindsay's work: ""It is impossible, reading her poems, not to hear a musical hand at work. This is not just a matter of delicacy or virtuosity. It is also a matter of knowing how to phrase a line... Lindsay moves from detail to trope with utter poise, with an intuitive sense of what to sustain or emphasize. Her language is crisp. I can pick a stanza at random...
Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea by
Crafting wings out of wax and poems from the underground, Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea is a dreamlike voyage through poetic narrative format, blurring the line between poetry and fiction. Exploring the frenetic lives of Mexican cowboys, robots, sultans, Greek gods, and convenience store clerks, Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea shatters preconceived notions of poetry and instead offers a more accessible strain of literary free flow.
Kiyâm by
kiyâm contemplates language loss and recovery in the twenty-first century, by relating one woman's journey in learning an Indigenous language.
Check out RHC Library's Films on Demand database for additional video content on poetry and other subjects.
The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry by 
The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry by 
America's Favorite Poems by 
Poetry of Resistance by 
Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral by 
The Woman I Kept to Myself by 
