Along with my early recommendation this month of Dorothea Lasky, I want to guide readers to the poetry, and other writing, of Nick Flynn.
“[Y]ou are being continually/tattooed, inked,” Flynn write in “Tattoo,” “with the skulls of/everyone.”
His poetry is vivid and daring within a style that seems effortless and inviting. As with Lasky’s poetry, I want to linger on Flynn’s words, and I often find myself smiling—sometimes from the humor, but mostly from the joy of reading his work.
For the English teacher especially, I highly recommend “Forty-Seven Minutes.”
Please visit and enjoy:
dr. p.l. (paul) thomas 
I had a student make it to the Poetry out Loud state finals with a Nick Flynn poem: Cartoon Physics, Part 1. My first look at him! I use his poetry in every class now.