Picnic, Lightning

by Billy Collins. It's no wonder Billy was chosen to be U.S. Poet Laureate not too long after this book appeared. This kind of modern, witty prose is what brought poetry back into the mainstream. At turns (and sometimes simultaneously) touching and funny, this is what poetry should be. Even if it was just for his soulful poem, "The Night House," this would rank as a staff favorite. Amazingly, the book is full of such beautiful works.

Some Angels Wear Black

by Eli Coppola. Compiled after her death, this book is filled with a sense of life and personality--one of those rare books that make you feel that you know the author personally. You're almost there with her on the bus, through passionate romances and break-ups, and a general search for God and meaning. Eli's work is gritty, tough, and heartbreakingly human.

Poetry Speaks

Elise Paschen & Rebekah Presson Mosby, editors. Great poetry read aloud by the authors themselves, some of them shortly after the invention of the phonograph. The three audio CDs provide astonishing insights into the classic works of 50 bygone poets from Auden to Yates. And the companion book, filled with author biographies, analysis, and additional poetic works, is equally brilliant. If you know a poet or poetry lover who does not have this book, then you know someone who needs it.

Gifts for the Poetry Wary

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

by T.S. Eliot with drawings by Edward Gorey. These, of course, are the poems upon which the musical Cats is based. Filled with charming and outrageous characters, this perfectly illustrated little book is an utter delight. It makes a great match for anyone with a breath of whimsy and joy in their soul.

180 Poems

Billy Collins, editor. 180 poems from a rich variety of poets, selected by the master of modern poetry. It's supposed to provide high-school students an enjoyable dose of poetry each day of their school year, but don't let the premise fool you. Despite the fact that the poems are enjoyable and accessible, they are full, beautiful, wondrous works that measure up to the most reasoned adult scrutiny. This makes an excellent poetry sampler, with something (or more likely many multiple somethings) for everyone.

180 More

Billy Collins, editor. Ditto. Combine this book with 180 Poems above and you can have terrific poetry for practically every day of the year. Or if you're like us and our friends and can't resist rereading our favorites time and again, many years.

Writer's Shelf

The Poet's Manual and Rhyming Dictionary

by Frances Stillman. This essential book is hard to find, but Amazon.com merchants seem to have a few. The first half of this book, the "manual," explains the fundamentals of meter and rhyme and goes on to provide in-depth information about all traditional and modern poetic structures. If you'd like to know the difference between the Pindaric and Horatian odes, this is where to turn. Nowhere else is the vocabulary and history of poetic form better explained. Oh--and there's a fantastic rhyming dictionary too. It's elegantly based on the rhyming vowel, making it far more concise and complete than those clunky alphabetic monstrosities.

Roget's International Thesaurus

by P.M. Roget. The third greatest achievement in the English language, after the works of Shakespeare and the unabridged OED. If you're using a dictionary-style thesaurus, the Internet, or (good God!) Microsoft Word as your thesaurus, you are missing 90% of the story. Roget not only grouped words by meaning, he organized the groups too. If your indexed word doesn't lead to the desired result, just flip back and forth a few pages to meander among related concepts and their opposites.

Get the 4th edition if you can find it. It is closest to Roget's original organization (beginning with abstract existence and ending on religion). As of the 5th edition, the book was updated with modern terms and reorganized. It's still a good book, but we purists don't like to see mere mortals tampering with Roget's masterpiece.

An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols

by J.C. Cooper. Symbols make up our cultural subconscious. We readily intuit the significance of the rose or the dark of night, but what about the shoe, the flute, or tea? This dictionary-style book explains the meaning of symbols in various cultures and provides a foundation for their conscious use and manipulation. Are you really writing what you think you are?

For the Podcaster

Logitech Premium USB Headset 350

If you want to try podcasting, this is your gizmo. It's inexpensive, easy to use, and sounds great. The mic has built-in noise cancelling and rivals the sound of professional studio equipment costing hundreds more. It connects to your PC via USB, so there's no special mixers or "phantom power" to worry about. The earcups are comfortable and there are volume and mute controls right on the cable. It's absolutely our favorite headset.