National Poetry Day

Hooray for National Poetry Day! I like poetry, because I did English. My official favourite poem is Lullaby by W.H Auden, but there are many others that I like, depending on my mood. Here are some:

• For a morbid mood, Not Waving But Drowning by Stevie Smith is always good. It's something you should quote mournfully in a black turtleneck. I remember reading a book at school in which a girl left this as a suicide note, which is nice. Can't really remember anything else about the book, not even the title. 
• For a 'classical' mood, I do rather like a nice bit of Sappho. (I'm not pretending I can read ancient Greek or anything- I can't.) I particularly like this one, although I can't find the translation that I like. I'm not keen on the ones where the translator has tried to use flowery language to convey the ancientness of it all. First Love by John Clare has a similar 'Love isn't wonderful, it's shit and it makes your body go all weird' attitude, which I like. Bizzarely enough I find it refreshing, even though Sappho wrote ages and ages and ages ago.
• On the subject of Sappho, Lesbos by Sylvia Plath is pretty good. I've always wondered why it's called what it is, which I know is probably obvious and makes me really dim for not knowing. Perhaps it's because she's jealous, and that Sappho poem I just linked to was about being jealous. Who knows? It's very angry in any case. Very very very angry.
• For a violent sort of mood, Ted Hughes' Lineage is also pretty good. Oh, I do like Ted Hughes. Sorry Sylv. (These bullet points are linking together quite nicely aren't they? I didn't plan this.)
• If I am not in the mood for horrible vitriol or depressing suicide poems, which occasionally happens, I like Sometimes by Sheenagh Pugh. Apparently she hates it, but I think it's nice. Very optimistic.
• He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by W.B Yeats is a pretty pleasant love poem. I did read a terrible, terrible Mills & Boon novel in which one of the characters quoted it though. This put me off slightly.
• Still I Rise by Maya Angelou is a BRILLIANT 'defiant mantra' poem. The last line should be 'YEEEEEEEEEAH!' It's like an eloquent version of that Chumbawumba song. 
• I'm going to round this off with a couple of 'quirky and obscure' poems. This and this are great, and very underrated, which is a shame.

Phew, what a trip through my taste! I have missed many other things that I like out, but I reckon all of my favourites are up there. Poems I DON'T like tend to be ones that are too lengthy (never have the patience for them), ones that are about nature (yawn), and more traditional love poems.
Anyway. Happy National Poetry Day!