All right poets I am curious as to who influences your writting. I thought that it would be nice if we could share amongst one another are inspirations and favorite poets. My favs would be The zen poets, Basho and buson and issa. Also Han shan and the cold Mountain poems. My favorite western poet would be Mary Oliver she is the first poet I have ever read that I feel truly gets it. I also appreciate the work of Gary Snider who is also influenced by nature and the eastern world.
As far as i'm concerned Federico Garcia Lorca had IT and did IT. Rimbaud was close but gave up too soon... i also like basho's haiku and the some of the chinese poets from the olden days... and most of the beat poets (especially ginsberg, corso, lamantia, frank o hara, and ferlinghetti), ee cummings, sylvia plath, william blake, shelley, neruda, the french surrealists (brenton, eluard, etc) and octavio paz
Cool dude, thanks for the link My favorites include Kahlil Gibran, Robert Frost, William Blake, Pablo Neruda, Edgar Allan Poe... well that's all I can think of right now. I have a book of Zen Poems, and one of Earth/Nature related poems and prayers; both of which I like a good deal. I'm gonna have to check out those poets you mentioned up there.
Robert Hunter Ani DiFranco Ginsberg Robert Frost Ferlinghetti Edgar Allen Poe Homer Emily Dickinson Dogen Bassui Thich Nhat Hahn Robert Johnson Mississippi John Hurt Blind Lemon Jefferson Last but not least, a certain Mr. Zimmerman.
I jus LOVE Kahlil Gibrans writing Also Gerard Manley Hopkins for understanding God and nature. John Clare for writing "I am" There are absolutely loads more but im too tired to think. Ill come back to it. Xx
After going through some of the poets you guys listed, I definitely have to add Mary Oliver to my list of favorites. She's really something
well, my favorite poet of all time isn't published, he used to post on the aol boards ages ago until he moved and disappeared... so if anyone's out in Sacramento and knows a guy named Colyn who may or may not go by the name of Shlema, let me know, I'm dying to get back in touch with him! Other than that, my favorite poet, atm, is Charles Wright, he's been influencing my own work quite a lot lately... The only other guy I can really think of is John Berryman, mainly his Dream Songs... almost impossible to understand, quite delusional, and overall just weird... I love that stuff....
well, my absolute favorite would have to be ginsberg (as seen in sig), but I am trying to expand the range of poetry i read. but i just find ginberg's poems so unique and powerful, if not occasionaly crammed with too many words.
Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlenghetti, William Blake, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison (fuck you guys, he was a poet), John Lennon, etc...
My favorite of all time would have to be EE Cummings. I love the way he plays with immagry and words, just everything about his writing is nothing but lovley. After that I would say, Amiri Barakah (aka LeRoi Jones) who I was lucky enough to hear speak, and is amazing. Ginsburg for sure, Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, and of course, Saul Williams. There's also a woman who I've seen on Def Poetry jam a few times, her name escapes me right now, she's incredible though...
ahhh yes, Rumi and hafiz how could I forget, true masters. I also thought of Leonard Cohen and the work of Nancy Wood Two more wonderful poets.
I don't know. I have no real respect for writers that focus only on poetry. With that said, Edgar Lee Masters (Spoon River Anthologies) and Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken) are the only poets I've ever gone out of my way to read.