nut free nerd

Despite it being almost March, it is still solidly winter where I live (it is, in fact, snowing as I write this). I’ve been filling my pockets of spare time with copious amounts of knitting — and, when my focus allows, reading. Here are a handful of poetry collections I’ve read that have made the early nights and low temperatures a bit more bearable.

The Orange and other poems by Wendy Cope. This collection — and particularly the titular poem — is hugely popular online, and for good reason. Wendy Cope writes with beautiful simplicity about not-so-simple things: love, longing, loss, that feeling of nostalgia that tends to creep up on us. I would love to read more of her work — please let me know if you have any recommendations!

The Pocket Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson, edited by Brenda Hillman. I picked this up on a whim one day in a bookstore, and then proceeded to be in awe as I read. The experimentation that Emily Dickinson did with language and structure and images is incredible. I’ve read poems by her here and there over the years, but I’ve always been a bit intimidated by the thought of really getting into her work. This collection was a great way to dip my toes into some of her more well known poems, and to learn a bit more about her background.

Make Believe: Poems for Hoping Again by Victoria Hutchins (Netgalley ARC). I’m an avid listener of Victoria Hutchins’ podcast Soul Gum, so when I heard she was releasing a debut poetry collection I knew I would have to pick it up as soon as possible. These poems are beautiful, conjuring up images of childhood, the bittersweet nostalgia of discovering that the world is not as we thought it was — for the bad, but also for the good. I highly recommend this collection if you’re in the need of a pick-me-up.

What have you been reading lately? I’d love to know.

Take care xx