Fungi from Yuggoth and Other Poems

This little volume (edited by August Derleth) brings together a sampling of H.P. Lovecraft's better poetry. While I've often heard the opinion that Lovecraft's poetry is quite poor, reading this gave me the impression that's not an entirely fair. If there's one weakness to HPL's poetry, it's his archaism. This is especially true of the earlier works, where Lovecraft indulges his most Edwardian inclinations. The later poetry, beginning with The Ancient Track, while still somewhat old fashioned in style captures a pleasant weird vibe. Especially worthwhile is “The Fungi From Yuggoth,” which features thirty-six different sonnets. Some are little scary stories in their own right, while others aim more for the sense of the numinous that often accompanies the horrible in HPL's fiction. While Lovecraft is arguably not the best weird poet of his era–that title would probably go to Clark Ashton Smith–I would argue he's worth reading for anyone in seeing this curious overlap betwixt the poetic and the uncanny.