For poetry that rejects timidity, flirts with outrage and embraces the deep laughter heard in industrial kitchens, used car garages and underused libraries -- The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni is an indispensable guidebook.

The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni includes '60s movement poetry as well as odes to artists, dusty porches and the blues. Giovanni's melodic poetry -- sometimes smooth, sometimes skittish -- is always adventurous. She is an authoritative poet who is unafraid to marry cultural sentiment with her art.

My favorite Giovanni poems challenge the reader to consider the implications of choice in our lives:

if I can't do
what I want to do
then my job is to not
do what I don't want
to do

She builds a wall between herself and petty excuses not to live on her own terms. The Collected Poems of Nikki Giovanni just might be the perfect way to feel emboldened throughout your day.

Let’s eschew sentimental romance this month. Put down the syrupy L-O-V-E poems about violets and silk pillowcases. Even if you are in love, let’s explore some of the other “Many, many loves” that enrich life and encourage goodness.

That’s where Marge Piercy reigns.

“The Crooked Inheritance” by Marge Piercy is full of brilliant, funny poems exploring love – its myths and manifestations. “Many, many loves” reminds us to pay attention to connections we have beyond coupledom, including ourselves. Here’s the first stanza, I urge you to pick up the book and be floored by the ending.

So many things we can love:
a man, a woman, a friend, a cat.
We can love a sugar maple
Turning orange from the bottom up;
We can love a weeping beech
With its twisting arms, the lush tent
Branches make sweeping the ground.