I have favourite poets, who always have something new and interesting to say, and favourite poetry books ~ some of which are 'one offs'. Not wanting the well known to hog the stage i decided to go with titles here, rather than writers.
Of course, if i lived in a different country (i'm in England) i might have chosen different ones ~ please let me know which poets you like, wherever you / they are from.
At the moment, my five favourites FOR ADULTS are:
"Humid Pitch" (by Cheryl Clarke ...a jazzy, steamy story)
"Riddym Ravings & other poems" (by Jean Binta Breeze ...she knows who's really crazy!)
"The Oxygen Man" (by Joanne Limberg ...on losing a loved one, etc)
"The Mindfield" (by Diké Omeje ...re not losing your mind)
& last but def not least:
"Brother to Brother" (ed by Hemphill / Beam ...coz there's a dire shortage of black gay poetry on this part of the planet)
&
one of my favourite ADULT poetry CD's:
"Healing Pool" (by Zena Edwards ...a very nice mix of styles and subject matter)
***
My five favourites FOR or by KIDS are:
"The Stone of Life" (by Kim Williams ...an amazing young writer who is sadly no longer with us)
"Talking Turkeys" (by Benjamin Zephaniah ...who made the fun-cum-serious adult poetry CD "Naked")
"Sing of the Earth and Sky" (by Aileen Fisher ...does what it says on the box :-)
"Lemonade: and other poems squeezed from a single word" (by Bob Raczka ...fun for puzzle lovers)
& an anthology:
"The Puffin Book of Fantastic First Poems" (ed by June Crebbin ...like a good album, it's full of good stuff)
& my favourite KIDS poetry CD:
"Valerie Bloom reading from her poems"
~ ~ ~
of course there are others i'd have liked to include here, but i didn't want to get too carried away ~ hope at least one of the above proves fun for you, too!