Reddit reviews The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop

Do I have a book suggestion for you: https://www.amazon.com/BreakBeat-Poets-American-Poetry-Hip-Hop/dp/1608463958

you're likely to get a zillion answers. poetry is such a wild and broad field, with many disparate subsets. And the difficulty in your question is that if i answer with The BreakBeat Poets or War Poems, where I find several valuable poems in each, you would invariably find them drastically more or less valuable to you.

I've read a couple handfuls of anthologies, and my lesson learned is that ... it kinda doesn't matter. liking poetry is a numbers game for me - if i want to add more poetry to the list of poems i like, I've got to read about a hundred more poems.

it doesn't quite matter the author, or era - though i do have to say i'm starting to figure out where/when more of the poetry i like tends to come from.




I highly suggest 2 things - any used book-store is going to have a dusty, not-often-shopped pair of shelves called poetry, in which you'll be able to find some classics, and some anthologies, for a few dollars each. super cheap, generally. Then, take the bulk of your budget to a new book-store and shop that section for a specific style/author/genre that you think might kin with him.

There are tons of anthologies these days centered around all sorts of lives and lifestyles. urban living, country living, black, Hispanic, old, young, hobo/travelers, gay, spiritual, ... all the sorts.

Regardless, good luck, have fun.