the carriage held

Been tagged by Mary and this one was really hard.

Say someone asked me, "I kind of like poetry, but I don't know anything about contemporary poetry. Who should I read?"

No blog friends (because I would have listed Amy Sparks)
No real-life friends (I broke this rule)
No real-life mentors (because I would have listed Mary Biddinger)
Alive as of this writing (I broke this rule too, oh well)

I'd say, in no particular order:

1. Wislawa Szymborska
2. Louise Gluck
3. Martin Espada
4. Maurice Manning
5. Mark Strand
6. Cornelius Eady
7. Richard Siken
8. Joy Harjo
9. Anele Rubin
10. Philip Levine
11. Karen Kovacik
12. Kate Northrop
13. Ed Dorn (dead, but everyone needs a little Gunslinger)