We're launching a new summer series this week: Poetry Beach Reads! Why? Because The Poetry Shop is based in San Diego and we want to spot fellow poets at the beach as we sink our toes into the sand and stain our pages with sunblock.
What makes a poetry book a beach read? I think it's likely a little different for each reader. This column aims to feature different perspectives. If you're a poet, editor, or avid poetry reader, please write to us with your suggestions (see details below).
To kick things off, you can find my personal definition here. But to be clear: we look forward to reading what YOU think makes a good beach read, too!
What Makes a Good Beach Read?
My ideal poetry beach read is something steamy, darkly funny, or a page-turner with a solid narrative arc. Poems that gossip, flaunt, and tell stories with a strong voice. People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and The New Yorker, only make it cover-to-cover verse. Poetry that points out the absurdity of society, provides a voice of companionship, and makes me quote lines out loud (...to seagulls if no one else).
Three poetry books to toss in your beach tote.
Bottom Feeders (Black Lawrence Press) by Arielle Hebert, opens with these stunning lines... "It was the summer I worked on Siesta Key / slinging cold Bud cans and making change /out a fanny pack, dragging beach chairs / across the sand in my bikini". A queer coming of age story set in Florida in the 2000s, Bottom Feeders follows a badass group of teens: "We were the kind of girls / that brought a bat to prom, / smoked cigarettes in the parking lot, / sequined party dresses cut / above the knee". Hebert makes you love Florida, even as you fear it. Bonus: there's a ton of ocean imagery. These poems will make dance in the sand, contemplate youth, and live your best life. (They might make you cry, too.)
The Intentions of Thunder (Scribner Book Company) by Patricia Smith won the National Book Award and it won't take you long to know why. T his book is required reading. These are poems of extreme tenderness, and ones of brutalism. Many of the poems are long, and I like that. Smith's voice will enter your head like a beach confidant. You'll find all of your favorites here, including Hip-Hop Ghazal, "Gotta love us brown girls, munching on fat, swinging blue hips, / decked out in shells and splashes, Lawdie, bringing those woo hips." If that isn't a beach read, I don't know what is.
Stay Dead (Copper Canyon Press) by Natalie Shapero. If you have a morbid, dry sense of humor: this book's for you. Shapero's verse is cutting, witty, acutely aware of the social circus we're living in. You will laugh more than you cry. Like an issue of People magazine, Stay Dead is full of pop culture references: you'll find Alanis Morissette, Julia Roberts, and Anthony Bourdain here. Plus, quotes from artists Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Claude Monet. If you're on a SoCal beach, or daydreaming of one, contemplating what might have happened if you become an actor (not a poet... we know you're a poet) Stay Dead is the beach read for you.
Your Turn! Tell us what you're reading at the beach.
Are you a poet, editor, or reader burning with a few good recommendations? Please write to me -- katie (at) thepoetryshop.com, subject header: Poetry Beach Reads. Submit a paragraph describing your ideal beach read. Then recommend 3-5 poetry books (a paragraph for each) telling us why we should bring them to the beach. We will try our best to feature as many of these as we can this summer.