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Today is one of the premiere holidays on the calendar, National Poetry Day. OK, it might not be on par with Christmas or Thanksgiving or even Flag Day -- and it's actually a British observance, but still, let's give it up for all the manly rhyme and verse and meter-slingers of the world.

No names coming to mind, huh? Well, you might be surprised to learn that there's quite a rich history of bawdy poets and rowdy wordsmiths that any guy would be honored to share a brew with, and then, in the case of Charles Bukowski, hurl the glass at the bartender for breathing too loudly.

Here are our top recommendations for number one picks in your next fantasy poetry league draft.

Bukowski
Here's a guy who was just totally miserable, as illustrated by works like "To the Whore Who Took My Poems." But he dedicated his career to taking all the frustrating, back-breaking, angst-inducing parts of life as an American male -- be it work, women or whiskey -- and turning it into works of art so terrifying and beautiful they make you want to run your fist through a brick wall and then cry into a 12-pack (which is how Bukowski spent many of his days). Whether you realize it or not, Bukowski helped make it OK for guys to feel -- to feel pissed off, sad, jubilant, pissed off, angry, pissed off, depressed or even just pissed off. Chuck taught us how to let it all out.

Richard Hugo
Hugo harkens back to a time when men were men, including the poets. A World War II pilot, he volunteered to serve and flew 35 combat missions. After the war, he eventually landed in Montana, where he wrote and taught for years, mostly focusing on the changing rural landscape, from abandoned towns to rugged landscapes. In his "Death of the Kapowsin Tavern" he gives a poignant eulogy for a town and its most prominent business.

Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac
Two crazy guys who generated enough testosterone and madness to supply the entire beat generation. In fact, you might even argue that's exactly what they did. Get a copy of "On the Road" immediately and read it. If you've read it 10 times, read it again. We all need to be reminded what it means to truly live a man's life. These guys turned it up to 11 every day without a break. Sure, Kerouac died at a young age, but with more experiences than most of us will see in three lifetimes.

Lord Byron
OK, we'll be honest, we haven't actually read much of the guy's stuff, but reading about his life is like a page from the biography of a 19th-century Hugh Hefner, but without all the cheesiness and Bill Maher. The man could write a love poem like no one else during an age when stuffiness and propriety were all the rage. LB was big pimpin' at a time when pimpin' certainly wasn't easy.

What other manly poets put the "ball" in "ballad"?