This list is long overdue... mainly because I keep changing my mind. But I've decided just to edit or add to it down the road. Of course there are more. And of course not everyone will agree. But these are poets who have "gotten me" over the years... poets whose poems have had that "Mmmm Thing" I've talked about. Maybe not every poem? But they're worth the chance...

1. Stephen Dunn

2. Tony Hoagland

3. Billy Collins

4. Matthew Dickman (especially the book All-American Poem)

5. Ben Myers (especially the book Lapse Americana)

6. William Stafford

7. Sharon Olds

8. Mary Oliver

9. Adam Zagajewski

10. Ted Kooser

11. Naomi Shihab Nye

12. Wisława Szymborska (New and Collected Poems)

13. George Bilgere

14. Wendell Berry

15. Charles Bukowski (for the angry and outcast)

16. Martín Espada

17. Bob Hicok (earlier works)

18. Robert Pinsky

19. Spencer Reece

20. Kay Ryan

#poets #poetry #stephendunn #tonyhoagland #billycollins #poem #NathanBrown