Books like Complete Poems of Stephen Crane

I finally went back and finished the second section of this book after a brief hiatus to finish another book I was reading. I mostly enjoyed the book but the first section..The Black Riders and Other Lines (1895) was definitely my favorite. A lot of the work was not what I would consider actual traditional poems..it was more observations about life and some mini fable/riddles. I really enjoyed this section because most of the work was easy for me to understand and I just loved his very astute observations about life. So much wisdom in one so young! The second section..War is Kind was more of a mixed bag for me. There were some parts I really loved..like the title poem WIK, one beginning..When the prophet, a complacent fat man.. and the long poem Intrigue. Intrigue in particular was one that I really enjoyed. A lot of the work in the second section was, I feel, more a testing of new styles and such for SC. Some of it worked for me and some of it just left me puzzled about what he was actually trying to say. This could just be me though. I usually have mixed success when reading a lot of poetry because I like things to be clearly discernible and so many poems just I feel go right over my head. I guess I'm just a bit of a literal thinker in some ways and this isn't a fault of the work per se, just a bit of a failure in my understanding..an inability to make the necessary mental leap. I also think it is worthwhile to read the introduction and also the biographical and other notes in the back of the book. I usually always read these anyways and think they do a good job of giving you a feel for SC and also putting his work in proper context. Sad that his life was cut so short. He definitely lived a lifetime in those few short years but it would have been interesting to see him grow and evolve as a writer. Highly recommended work.