5 poems to help you defrost this spring
Poetry is the voice, sometimes the body, of the human condition put to words. Reading and making poetry can help a person to indulge in a different perspective, understanding, and feeling that they never could have before. For at least twenty years, I’ve loved poetry and have read hundreds of poems. I even thrifted and repaired a typewriter to write my first manuscript of poems at fourteen! None of them was really good, mostly full of pubescent angst, but all of them helped me express myself. Poetry in all its forms is transformative and informative of humanity. It is powerful and important for individual growth outside of the emotions we already experience. Taking in one’s form of self-expression to better understand ourselves and the world around us. To help with that, here are five poems for the springtime that’ll shake off the cold winter vibes!
1 . Prologue To Spring by Sylvia Plath
Poet Sylvia Plath, 1932–1963 (Shutterstock/spatualetali)
Sylvia Plath is one of the most famous American poets; she has earned her notoriety through her amazing oeuvre. Her most famous and slightly controversial being The Bell Jar. Plath was born in 1932, and many racist stereotypes of the time were included in her novel The Bell Jar. While Plath offended and degraded many different races and cultures, her poetry has remained popular far after her untimely death by suicide in 1963.
One of her popular poems, Prologue To Spring, is focused on the coldness of winter. Plath describes the stagnating winter through metallic, sharp imagery. A stark contrast to the ending of the poem, where she hints at change. Green-singing birds emerge from their nests as the spring ice of winter begins to melt, signifying spring’s genesis.
Another spring-themed poem by Sylvia Plath I recommend is I Am Vertical. Its heavy nature theming is beautiful,l and its strong start keeps you reading till the end. Away from springtime themes, another great poem by Plath is Tulips. From the perspective of a hospitalized girl, the same madness of womanhood energy from The Bell Jar is in this poem. Making it very interesting to read!
2 . It Comes Unadorned by Toni Morrison
Poet Toni Morrison, 1931–2019 (Shutterstock/spatualetali)
Toni Morrison, another famous American poet, one of my favorite authors. Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. She was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2012. Morrison passed away in 2019 at 88 years of age after making a huge impact on the culture and literature as a whole.
An influential poem of Morrison’s, It Comes Unadorned, is a personal favorite of Morrison’s poetry. The final line, especially, “It comes naked into the world like a charm”. A beautiful line emphasizing rebirth and opportunity. This poem discusses spring in vibrant imagery and uses magical language to create a unique liminal energy. Like the time after winter and before spring!
I recommend all of Morrisons’ work as it does exactly what poetry and art aim to do: provide a new or alternative perspective of the human experience. The Bluest Eye is a novel of hers that focuses on an ostracized 11-year-old black girl growing up in Ohio. Another really good book by Morrison is Sula, my favorite novel by her. More poems by Morrison that are truly amazing include: Eve Remembering and I am Not Seaworthy.
3 . Fireflies by Jacqueline Woodson
Fireflies in a Jar (Shutterstock/Suzanne Tucker)
Get Mya Belton’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Jacqueline Woodson is an American writer from Columbus, Ohio, born in 1963. She’s earned a long list of awards for her work, a few being: NAACP Award in Outstanding Literature for Youth and Teens in 2021, 2019, and 2015, Coretta Scott King Award for Authors, and MORE! Woodson is an incredibly talented Author with more books/novels out than poems. However, Woodson’s poetry is lifelike and creative. Perfect for her usual younger audience.
The Woodson poem that’ll warm your heart this spring is Firefly, a shorter but powerful poem set in ‘almost May’. The speaker describes catching and wishing on a firefly. With less nature and seasonal language and more of a focus on a specific springtime childhood memory or experience. A sweet and heart-warming throwback, as, in adult life, there is less time to enjoy such simple pleasures. The childlike joy and whimsy are palpable in Woodson’s writing, making it very special.
Woodson wrote the famous Brown Girl Dreaming, a free-verse poetry book that focuses on Woodson’s childhood growing up. The book was given the National Book Award and a Newbery Honor! An essential read for the growing black girl or anyone attempting to get a better understanding. Another poem by Woodson, When I Tell My Family from Brown Girl Dreaming, discusses her experience telling her family she wants to be a writer. As an aspiring author, it is particularly relatable and highly recommended!
4 . Ode to the Whitman Line “When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d” by Kimiko Hahn
Lilacs Blooming (Shutterstock/Amm_amm)
Kimiko Hahn is another American poet with a lot of published poetry collections and many awards for these works. Hahn is a poet and professor at Queens College, CUNY. She has been awarded the American Book Award for The Unbearable Heart and the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts for poetry. Born in 1955, Hahn has opened a space for the Japanese and German American experience in her career so successfully.
The fourth poem in this list is an ode to a Walt Whitman poem, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d, written in 1865 for President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination. Whitman wrote this during the summer of 1865, and it was published later that year. However, it is very long and written in a very old version of our modern English. While Whitman is a classic poet and writer, I much prefer Hahn’s ode to this poem, Ode to the Whitman Line “When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d”. Hahn uses vernal language to discuss love similarly to how Whitman discusses life, death, and spring.
Hahn has so much amazing poetry that I recommend; Foreign Body, Erasing Love, and A Dream of Toast all display Hahn’s incredible talent. She also has several published poetry collections: The Ghost Forest, Brain Fever, and Unbearable Heart. The variety and depth of her work, juxtaposed with her shorter, more abstract poems like A Dream of Toast are a testament to Hahn’s remarkable flair.
5 . Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
Wild Geese Leisurely Strolling Through a Field (Shutterstock/Alla Gnidenko)
Mary Oliver is the final American poet featured in this list. She was born in 1935 and passed away in 2019 as a highly acclaimed author and poet. Mary Oliver was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1984, the National Book Award for poetry in 1992, the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts in 1980, and MORE! A famous, well-known, and critical female poet, Oliver is well remembered for her poetry collections and her ability to simplify life. Her humanistic approach to poetry is so important in a society leaning farther and farther away from empathy and emotion.
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver is the perfect poem to end this list on because it functions as a hug from Oliver. “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” This line in particular serves as a reminder to be and feel. The poem features plenty of geese and lots of nature imagery. The poem is short and sweet, easy to remember as a warm day unfolds in front of you. I love this poem for its simple, delicate beauty.
Oliver has a long list of published works, mostly consisting of poetry. She also published a guide, A Poetry Handbook, to understanding and writing poems. A great place to start for anybody getting into poetry and wanting to learn more. More poems by Oliver I recommend include: The Journey, The Summer Day, and From This River, When I Was a Child, I Used to Drink. Each is so unique, it’s an inspiration and enthusiastic nature, a real talent of Oliver. Nothing else inspires one to go outside into the world and take it like her work!
Why Poems Matter
As someone who has read and written poetry since my early teens, it’s clear to me the power of poems, but it wasn’t always like that. Lots of people are only introduced to Shakespeare and the traditional haiku or sonnet through middle or high school literature. Some poems can feel like hard work to read, let alone understand. However, once understood even partially, their meaning can stick with a person for life. I’ve come to love poetry for the way it makes me feel, and feeling even sad, hard, difficult feelings is a gift of life. Writing poetry also allows an outlet to express those feelings. I recommend starting to feel now, while it’s as easy as reading and taking a look into someone else’s mind.
Interested in flash fiction with poetic meaning? There is a great breakdown of a 2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut that will shock with its dystopian depiction of the future. Still struggling with getting why any of this matters? Don’t worry! Poetry is an alive and thriving art form with many new poets and collections coming out all the time. Meaning, don’t give up yet! Isis Whipps discusses how to discover more about oneself with poetry in What Self-Discovery Poems Can Teach Us About Ourselves on Trill Mag! Thank you for reading!
