Emma, Anne Carson is far and away my favorite contemporary poet. Sante's translation of Novels in Three Lines, referenced above by Pat K, are also like awesome, grim little poems (written about a century ago by Felix Feneon). I also like John Ashbery a lot, but he's not for everyone - very cerebral, postmodern stuff. Also into: Pablo Neruda, Stanley Kunitz, Kenneth Koch, Philip Levine, Mark Levine. As far as the canon goes, I like T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, William Carlos Williams, Rainer Maria Rilke. Allen Ginsburg and Sylvia Plath are have been parodied to the point of cliche, but they've got some pretty great poems.