my list looks a little something like this:

toni morrison (i agree about Love, i think she was doing the whole 'let's shock the audience with pedophilia for no good reason at all...but i love Sula and Song of Solomon)

jeanette winterson (mainly cuz of The Passion, Powerbook sucked)

adrienne su (i love her style and voice....i learned a lot about the power of simplicity from her)

paul beatty (white boy shuffle is one of my favorites of all time and his poetry's pretty dope too)

audre lorde

rita dove is bomb

james baldwin...sometimes

i know this is cheesy but the first poem i read that made me want to write was "On His Blindness" by john milton.....

as for new voices, i'm feeling ishle park...i sat on the train reading her book Temperature of this Water through twice and didn't flinch at all.

i wish i could read in french because i've been reading a lot senegalese books which are fucking gorgeous in english but i'm sure they'd be better without translation (i.e. Ambiguous Adventure, So Long a Letter, Juletane)

but that's just off the top