MAYA ANGELOU – This series started in February 2021 during Black History Month, honoring Maya Angelou (1928-2014). You'll find a quick bio and some examples of her poems below. Feel free to explore more than what's listed here. And once you're done discovering her writing, feel free to write something that is inspired by her writing, or an homage to the poet herself. Please indicate her name at the top of your piece, and any specific writing that inspired you.

Biography:

• https://poets.org/poet/maya-angelou
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maya-Angelou

Poetry:

• Caged Bird
  Still I Rise
  The Mothering Blackness
  California Prodigal

[Photo credit: Craig Herndon, The Washington Post]

BILLY COLLINS – Known for his conversational and welcoming style, Billy Collins makes poetry accessible and universal with his humorous and insightful observations of life – poetry that critic John Taylor says, “helps us feel the mystery of being alive.” Collins, born in New York City in 1941, was U.S. poet laureate from 2001-2003, and New York State poet laureate from 2004-2006. His level of fame is almost unprecedented in the world of contemporary poetry, according to Poetry Foundation. His readings sell out and his books have been popular since the 1991 publication of his fourth book, Questions about Angels. In 2002, as U.S. poet laureate, Collins read a moving poem to a joint session of Congress that he had been asked to write to commemorate the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Collins has taught at a number of colleges and universities, including Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence, and City University of New York, and he has received many honors, including the Poetry Foundation's Mark Twain Award for humorous poetry in 2004, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2016, he was elected into The American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Biography: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/billy-collins
Poetry: American Sonnet 
The Afterlife 
The Art of Drowning 
[Photo credit: Suzannah Gilman, Library of Congress]

JANE HIRSHFIELD – Poet, essayist, and translator, Jane Hirshfield has become known, in recent years, as an important poetic voice for the protection of the planet. Her poetry draws from a range of influences – from the sciences and the world’s literary, intellectual, artistic, and spiritual traditions. Born in 1953 in New York City, and now living in the San Francisco area, Hirshfield is the author of nine collections of poetry, including Ledger (2020); The Beauty (2015), longlisted for the National Book Award; Come, Thief (2011); and Given Sugar, Given Salt (2001). Hirshfield is also the author of two collections of essays and she has edited and co-translated four books of world poets. She has recently been lauded for her work commanding our attention to the crisis of the biosphere. Poet Rosanna Warren, quoted by poets.org, says, "Her poems appear simple, and are not. Her language, in its cleanliness and transparency, poses riddles of a quietly metaphysical nature. ... Clause by clause, image by image, in language at once mysterious and commonplace, Hirshfield's poems clear a space for reflection and change. They invite ethical awareness, and establish a delicate balance."
Biography: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/jane-hirshfield
Poetry: 
I Wanted To Be Surprised
Let Them Not Say
A Chair in Snow
[Photo credit: Nick Rozsa, poets.org]

C.D. WRIGHT – A poem written by YWP writer criss-cross, "Arsenal," was inspired by C.D. Wright – and that inspired us to feature the poet here. C.D. Wright, 1949-2016, was born in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. Poetry, she said, “is a necessity of life.” She published 16 collections of poetry and prose, including ShallCross (2016) and One With Others [a little book of her days] (2011), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. She published several book-length poems, including the critically acclaimed Deepstep Come Shining (1998). Wright’s writing has been described as experimental, astute, generous, socially conscious, and showing a strong sense of place. Though much of her work is connected to her Ozarks home, she also spent time on both coasts, in New York and San Francisco, and she taught for many years at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Her husband, poet Forrest Gander, created a website in tribute to Wright – https://cdwrightpoet.com/. 

Biography: https://cdwrightpoet.com/
https://poets.org/poet/c-d-wright
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/c-d-wright
Poetry:
From 'ShallCross'
Imaginary Hollywood
From One Big Self "Count Your Fingers" 
[Photo credit: Blue Flower Arts, https://cdwrightpoet.com]

ROBERT FROST – Hi writers! The poet for January is a classic of the Vermont scene – Robert Frost! He won a record of four Pulitzer Prizes in his lifetime, and he's seen as an icon of the literary world, in many ways because he's what we think of when we think of classic poetry. The descriptions of soft, snowy woods, the classic New-Englandism of it all. Frost's cottage is in Ripton, Vermont, and he's most famous for his description of the scenery of the woods. His poems are also characterized by a searching for a sense of self – the reflections of a man who lived a turbulent and often lonely life. His works are poignant and still relevant today, so I hope you enjoy them. 
Biography: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-frost 
Poetry:
Fire and Ice 
Birches
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

SEAMUS HEANEY – Hi Poets! This month's Great Poet is Seamus Heaney (1939–2013). He's one of the major figures of 20th century poetry, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. Heaney's work is inspired by his homeland of Northern Ireland, its nature as well as its political strife. Heaney's poetry is known for its imagery, its beauty, and the textures he subtly weaves into his poems. He used his work to preserve his people's customs and traditions, as well as to reflect on the part of Irish history called 'The Troubles', a series of political struggles which plagued his childhood in Northern Ireland. He is one of the most revered and popular poets of his generation, not only because of his wonderful writing but also because of the accesibility of his prose. 

Biography: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/seamus-heaney
Poetry: Death of a Naturalist
Blueberry Picking
Casualty

NATALIE DIAZ – In October as we honor Indigenous Peoples' Day, spend some time getting to know this Pulitzer Prize-winning Mojave American poet. Diaz is the author of the poetry collections "Postcolonial Love Poem" (2020), winner of the Pulitzer Prize; and "When My Brother Was an Aztec" (2012). She is also a language activist, former professional basketball player in Europe and Asia, and an Associate Professor in the MFA program at Arizona State University. She was born in the Fort Mojave Indian Village in Needles, California on Sept. 4, 1978, and is an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Tribe. She lives in Arizona, where she has worked with the last speakers of Mojave and directed a language revitalization program. In her poem, “Manhattan Is a Lenape Word” she asks, “Where have all / the Natives gone? / If you are where you are, then where / are those who are not here? Not here.” Other honors and awards include the Nimrod/Hardman Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, the Louis Untermeyer Scholarship in Poetry from Bread Loaf, the Narrative Poetry Prize, and a Lannan Literary Fellowship. 
Biography: https://poets.org/poet/natalie-diaz
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/natalie-diaz
Poetry: Diaz reading her poem, "Manhattan Is a Lenape Word" 
"The Facts of Art" 

MARGARET ATWOOD – Hi poets! Given the current political situation and the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, the poet this month is one who is renowned all over the world for not only her poetry but also her fiction. Margaret Atwood is one of the foremost feminist writers of our time. Not only does she discuss issues that are relevant to women everywhere, but she has continued to stand up for women's rights for the entirety of her life. She fiercely advocates for a woman's right to choose what she does with her body, and her most famous novel, "The Handmaid's Tale," is a harrowing story about what happens when those rights are taken away. Born in Ottawa in 1939, she is an incredible contemporary thinker who is sadly more relevant now than ever. Read her piece in the Atlantic, "I invented Gilead. The Supreme Court is making it real."
Biography: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/margaret-atwood
Poetry:
Marrying the Hangman
Siren Song
Helen of Troy Does Some Countertop Dancing

[Illustration: Canada Post's "Margaret Atwood" stamp honoring the Canadian literary luminary in 2021]

T.S. ELIOT – Hey poets! For the month of May, we're taking a look at one of the most famous American poets of all time – T.S. Eliot. He was an American poet, born in St. Louis, Missouri, who became one of the icons of the Modernist movement, and won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948.The Modernists, who were disenchanted with the old Romantic movement of poetry, which highlighted nature and beauty, instead described the world as they knew it after the First World War: a deeply flawed place. Eliot was famous for his complicated and layered poems, which used allusions and similes to artfully describe the world as he saw it. 
Biography: https://www.britannica.com/biography/T-S-Eliot;
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/t-s-eliot 
Poetry: 
The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock
The Waste Land
Gerontion
[Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery, Artist: Boris Artzybasheff]

WARSAN SHIRE – Hello poets! This month we'll be exploring the poetry of a newer poet, Warsan Shire. She is a Somali British writer who was born in Nairobi. In 2014 she was appointed the first Young Poet Laureate for London. She gained a huge following online, and is releasing her first full collection of poetry in the near future, so keep an eye out. Her poetry explores the themes of her heritage as well as her family's experiences as refugees in the West. She first rose to prominence with her most well-known poem, 'Home'. She's still young and has a lot of work ahead of her, so I thought she would be the perfect pick to introduce a younger poet who will no doubt grow in following years!
Biography: https://warsanshire.squarespace.com/ 
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/warsan-shire
Poetry: 
Home
Backwards 
The House
[Photo credit: Amaal Said, Poetry Foundation]

CAROL ANN DUFFY – March is National Women's History Month, and I thought Carol Ann Duffy would be the perfect poet to explore during this time. Duffy is a Scottish poet who is best known for love poems in the form of monologues. She is an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, and has several standout poems about queer love. She was the UK's poet laureate, and continues to be celebrated among literary circles. Duffy is well-known for subverting traditional stereotypes about women and the lives of women. She is currently a writing professor at Manchester Metropolitan University. 
Biography: https://poets.org/poet/carol-ann-duffy 
Poetry:
War Photographer
If I Was Dead
Pygmalion's Bride

AUDRE LORDE – Hey poets! February is Black History Month, and this poet, Audre Lorde, was an advocate for both black and queer communities. She was born on February 18th, 1934 in NYC to immigrant parents. She was a prolific poet, who used her voice to provide commentary on the injustices around her. In fact, she published her first poem in high school, in Seventeen magazine. She released numerous books and founded institutions such as Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. She died in 1992 of breast cancer, but she remains a prominent figure whenever we discuss the literary world of the twentieth century. 
Biography: https://poets.org/poet/audre-lorde 
Poetry:
Power
Father Son and Holy Ghost
Hanging Fire

SYLVIA PLATH – This Great Poets' segment focuses on the life and work of Sylvia Plath, one of the best known 20th century poets. She has a novel that is well known as well, The Bell Jar (1963), which is a wonderful read. Her work centers around her struggles with mental illness and living as a woman during a time where women still did not have many of the freedoms that we have now. 
Biography: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sylvia-Plath 
Works: 
Daddy
Epitaph for Fire and Flower
Edge
On the Decline of Oracles

ANNA AKHMATOVA – The famous Soviet luminary Anna Akhmatova was born in Ukraine on June 23, 1889. She was interested in poetry for much of her youth, but her family was resistant to the idea of her becoming a poet, so she went to law school instead. After her marriage to a prominent poet and critic, she started writing again and published her first book, Evening. She is known for her sharp imagery and political commentary under the oppressive conditions of Soviet Russia. Akhmatova often faced goverment opposition to her work.

Biography: https://poets.org/poet/anna-akhmatova 
Poetry:
Mines
Everything
Requiem
[Portrait by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin]

ALLEN GINSBERG – Hey poets! In honor of Pride Month, I've chosen one of the most influential LGBT poets of the 20th century to be June's poet. The extraordinary poet Allen Ginsberg was one of the Beat Poets, a generation of poets and writers including the likes of Jack Kerouac who challenged the idea that poetry had to be written with a certain poetic meter, and what exactly was acceptable content for a poem. Ginsberg was very involved in politics, and participated regularly in protests against the Vietnam War. Ginsberg was openly gay during a very dangerous time, and his words still ring true with queer people all over the world today. 
Biography: https://www.biography.com/writer/allen-ginsberg
https://poets.org/poet/allen-ginsberg 
Poetry: 
Howl
America
A Supermarket in California