This book has an average rating of 4.34 with 2,119 ratings. But, in my opinion, pushing Leav is pushing poetry in the wrong direction. Pulitzers, National Book Awards, etc.Īda Lemon, Claudia Rankin, Kay Ryan, Ben Lerner, Brenda Shaughnessey, Ted Kooser, etc. These are poets who might not get the same publicity-at least not via goodreads-but who have really truly pushed the form to its limits, developed their own idiosyncratic styles, and earned the accompanying accolades, e.g. I know this sounds totally arrogant, but the thing is is if you're relying on the ridiculous heft of Goodreads praise that's been levied for Leav, you're missing out on some of greatest contemporary poets of our generation. As far as I've observed, the majority of readers who love this book haven't read much "real" poetry whatsoever. To read and to understand and then to eventually "love" the possibilities poetry, it's best to become acquainted with its infinite possibilities. But reading them has helped me to comprehend what poetry was, is, and what it can be. To be honest, I don't "enjoy" all of the poets I just listed. Will you like all these poets? Absolutely not. Read Plath, cummings, Wallace, Neruda, Dickinson, Eliot, Keats, Yeats, Hughes, Angelou, Thomas, Ginsberg, Browning, Williams, etc, etc, etc. I'd suggest all readers who are interested in poetry to first, get better acquainted with the genre of poetry.