The weather is getting colder and it’s time to start reading under a blanket. Once the autumn starts, I love to dive more into poetry. Poetry about nature, longing or witches really catches my eye at this time of year. Poetry that resonates and give you a bit of an fall feel too. Sometimes sad, sometimes hopeful. This is the poetry for autumn you have to put on your TBR.

Autumnal Poetry To Get You Started

If you never read poetry, or think it is boring, don’t be afraid to give it a go! You don’t have to read poems that are very long or hard to understand. Modern poetry is amazing to find out what you actually like and what resonates. Rupi Kaur is a poet a lot of people start with, especially as she is popular on Instagram. Same with Whitney Hanson or Amanda Lovelace. Bit of feminism, bit of nature. Did you know that Lana Del Rey is also a poet? If you like the sentimental style in her music, you will definitely like her poems too. Another poet I recommend is Wendy Cope. The Orange is literary, but also very easy to get into. Don’t expect long poems, but short and lovely ones that will stay with you.

• Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
• She Followed the Moon Back to Herself by Amanda Lovelace
• Harmony by Whitney Hanson
• Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass by Lana del Ray
• The Orange by Wendy Cope

Autumn Poetry about Love

As a poetry novice, poetry about love is an easy place to start. The longing, the obsession – poets just find words for love you can’t. Magical. Some of my favourites include We Want It All: An Anthology for Radical Trans Poetics. A great one about trans relationships to desire, embodiment and identity. Then we have Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) who was an American playwright, Pulitzer Prize-winning lyrical poet, and feminist activist. Millay’s poems are infused with fiery romance and the youthful spirit that would become a characteristic of her writing. Highly recommended for all poetry lovers and those with a particular penchant for sonnets.

Love poems can be about relationships, but it can also be about embracing life and starting to love the everyday things again. In With My Back to the World Victoria Chang engages with the paintings and writings of Agnes Martin, the celebrated abstract artist, in ways that open up new modes of expression, expanding the scope of what art, poetry, and the human mind can do. The book explores the nature of the self, of existence – a book that speaks to how we see and are seen. Beautiful.

• The Poet and his Book by Edna St Vincent Millay
• Death of the First Idea by Rickey Laurentiis
• Selected Poems by Christina Rossetti
• Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen
• We Want It All edited by Andrea Abi-Karam and Kay Gabriel
• With My Back to the World by Victoria Chang

Autumn Poetry about Nature

Leaves are falling off the trees, you can find chestnuts on the ground and it’s starting to get colder outside. In autumn, we are aware of all of the nature around us. I love to read about nature in autumn, which is why I’m drawn to Mary Oliver. Her work has always been about her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. It’s dreamy to read, absolutely breath taking.

A more mystical and older work is poetry by Rumi. The Essential Rumi brings together the timeless poetry of one of the world’s most revered spiritual thinkers. The book is translated by Coleman Barks who brings the words of the Persian poet alive. Just as powerful, important, and necessary today as when first written in the thirteenth century.

• The Essential Rumi by Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks)
• Devotions by Mary Oliver
• Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Queer Poets Write About Nature edited by Dylan Ce
• The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy

Autumn Poetry about Witches

Did anyone say spooky season? This wouldn’t be a cozy fall tbr without including poetry about witches in this list. Books about witches often explore feminism and what it means to be a woman: and poetry does the same in its own magical way. For example, I Call Upon The Witches by Chloe Hanks. A compelling read about the traditional female villain archetype, but also about modern female empowerment. A little re-write of history. In Camille Ralphs’ debut After You Were, I Am, it’s more about witch trials. The collection is full of intense moments from history that clash with our messy, modern world. The book has three sections: ingenious rewritings of canonical prayers, dramatic monologues from the Pendle witch trials of 1612, and the divine tragedy of the Elizabethan magus John Dee. Highly interesting and the perfect poetry for autumn.

• The Witch Doesn’t Drown in This One by Amanda Lovelace
• I Call Upon The Witches by Chloe Hanks
• After You Were, I Am by Camille Ralphs
• Midden Witch by Fiona Benson
• Hemlock And Hellfire by Morgan Sylvia

So whether you are a poetry aficionado or a complete beginner, there is a poetry collection out there for you. What’s your favourite poetry collection?