A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poetry Collection

This is a great choice for any reader, but especially those of us who are new to poetry or uncertain we can get something out of it. I’ll speak for myself—I haven’t had nearly as much exposure to poetry and it’s not the first or even second thing I think of when I’m looking for new reading material. I carry this assumption that reading poetry will be like looking at a piece of abstract art. I’ll stare at it for a minute, issue a “hmm,” and walk away not knowing what I just looked at or whether I gained anything from the experience. What Life on Mars taught me is that you can fit whole lifetimes, whole cultural moments, big stories into the short span of a few stanzas. The breadth and depth of emotion in these poems is awe-inspiring.

You can read one of the poems in the collection, “My God, It’s Full of Stars,” over at the Poetry Foundation. This poem spoke to me of humankind’s hubris, insignificance, and yearning to be masters of the unknown. I’ve read it I don’t know how many times over the past few years. The magic and power of this collection is how much more you can see and how your perspective shifts with each reading of each poem—how the poems entreat you to think more and think differently. Smith doesn’t do this through obscure or flowery language, but through clear, simple, but lyrical phrasing that sparkles on the page.

The feeling I had coming away from my first read of the collection was that of being a child looking at the moon and the stars and the vastness of space and wondering how we came to be and where we’ll go. After you read “My God, It’s Full of Stars,” don’t miss out on the rest of the collection, which also includes poems about Smith’s father and grieving him, what the underworld might look and be like, about dark matter and the terrible crimes we commit against each other—to name a few. If you prefer your poetry spoken, the audiobook is read by Smith, and she’s a fabulous narrator.