April is my favorite month of the year: my birthday and National Poetry Month both happen. Since it's National Poetry Month, here are 3 poetry collections you need to read. To see pictures of Zoey giving some of these books her cat butt stamp of approval, scroll to the bottom of the article.
1. Hello Darling, by Christine Higgins
Stan Lee, my now retired bookstore cat, decided that Hello Darling is one of his favorite books that he's "read" in the last couple of years. After it arrived at the bookstore last year, he kept sitting on it and absorbing the text while I put the book's details into the bookstore's point of sale system. Stan Lee didn't say a whole lot about why he liked it, but I think he liked the author's style. Zoey, the bookstore cat I got after Stan Lee retired, was a bit less enthusiastic about Hello Darling when I showed it to her, despite her liking poetry more than Stan Lee does. Stan Lee did give it four paws up, though. Hello Darling explores the grief a parent feels when her child dies, as well as the relationship Christine has with her daughter, who struggled with mental illness and died in a car crash.
New, $12. Buy it here.
. An Exorcism of Angels, by Stephanie Wytovich
An Exorcism of Angels is part of a subgenre called horror poetry. Zoey liked it enough to give it the cat butt stamp of approval. Repeatedly. (You can see the bottom half of it in the picture, as she's sitting on it.) Her Royal Highness Princess Zoey liked it because she says it's poetry, and she deserves to have poetry read to her, especially if angels and heaven are involved. After all, she's an angel, and anywhere she is is heaven on earth. An Exorcism of Angels explores how heaven and earth are shared experiences, rather than places. She gave it four paws up because it talked about falling and love, and she said it meant people were going to fall in love with her, and because it talks about heaven. She likes pointing out how amazing she is and that being around her is heaven.
New, $13.95. Buy it here.
3. Ashley Sugarnotch and the Wolf, by Elizabeth Deanna Morris Lakes
In Ashley Sugarnotch and the Wolf, two characters are connected and moored to the expectations of society. It's something that both Stan Lee and Zoey agreed is amazing. Stan Lee said he liked it because the author is a confirmed cat lady, and he says that cat people make the best writers. Her Royal Highness Princess Zoey liked it because she likes poetry in general, and agreed with Stan Lee about cat people making the best writers. She was also thrilled with it when we read aloud to her from the review copy the publisher sent us while we scratched her behind the ears. I think Zoey's favorite part was the whole "expectations of society" thing. Some cat people think cats mostly hide when strangers visit, and she tends to shatter those expectations.
New, $16. Buy it here.
