Related

Last 30 days
Last 6 months
Last 12 months
Last 24 months
Specific Dates
From:

To:
Specific Authors
Specific Publisher
PREMIUM

Us from Nothing

The poet ably captures and illuminates the most significant moments of the complex, often tragic, past that have shaped the present. As this book moves from ancient to modern times, poetic richness gives way to the more conventional narrative, reflecting the loss of wonder and mystery inherent in the saga itself.

Best Poetry of 2024

PREMIUM

Ten Indian Classics

This anthology delivers a profound exploration of history, literature, and emotions, but it requires some understanding of India’s many cultures to fully appreciate its depth. Still, it’s a rewarding read for those willing to engage with its complexities and dive into the worlds it explores.
PREMIUM

Three Leaves, Three Roots: Poems on the Haiti-Congo Story

Georges’s poems map the complexities of national identity with an immediacy especially relevant to the present day.
PREMIUM

Scorched Earth: Poems

Clark’s poems are a journey of astonishing clarity and vision.

Twenty-Nine Goodbyes: An Introduction to Chinese Poetry

An excellent book for poetry beginners, students, and scholars. It will embolden readers to seek out new discoveries in Chinese poetry.
PREMIUM

A Bit Much: Poems

This poetry collection about self-discovery offers readers a sense of camaraderie in its down-to-earth humor and keen emotional insights. This lyrical blend will resonate deeply with readers. It’s a collection that’s both memorable and refreshingly real.
PREMIUM

TRANZ: Poems

This collection is a movingly honest exploration of what it means to be trans in the United States.
PREMIUM

Leaked Footages

The subject matter in this deeply moving, important collection is a heartbreaking reminder of the innocent lives that are constantly affected by violence and terrorism. Sadiq expertly illustrates these experiences, from the regret to the nightmares and the scars.

What Remains: The Collected Poems of Hannah Arendt

Accessible distillations of heart and mind; readers don’t have to know Arendt’s philosophy (or philosophy generally) to read this work profitably and with pleasure.

Paper Boat: New and Selected Poems, 1961–2023

Essential for any serious poetry collection.
PREMIUM

The Alcestis Machine: Poems

The collection successfully bridges the ancient and the modern, creating a powerful dialogue that speaks to the enduring human need for unity and understanding.

Between the Night and Its Music: New and Selected Poems

Highly recommended; readers unfamiliar with Spellman will wonder how they missed his work.
PREMIUM

After Image: Poems

An emotionally devastating and formally dynamic collection, cementing that George is one of the most underrated working poets after only two collections.
PREMIUM

Being Reflected Upon

Heartfelt and affecting, Notley’s poetry leaps from the page and straight into the imagination. Essential listening for fans of Notley’s work. Those unfamiliar with her poetry will want to dive into her earlier collections.
PREMIUM

Instructions for Traveling West

A sincere and moving narration. Sullivan’s raw, enigmatic debut will easily win listeners over and will be a collection to revisit again and again. A marvel.
PREMIUM

[ominous music intensifying]

Engaged, propulsive poetry for anyone concerned about U.S culture today.

Love Prodigal

Brimhall addresses life’s everyday suffering in astonishing language that will attract a wide range of readers. Highly recommended.

Forest of Noise: Poems

One mourns with Abu Toha as he asks his dead brother, “Will my bones find you when I die?” Highly recommended.

Still City: Poems

A beautifully articulated expression of war’s ongoing impact.

Scattered Snows, to the North: Poems

Another sterling work from the accomplished Phillips.
PREMIUM

Kitchen Hymns

Heartfelt, questing poems for anyone reconsidering how to believe.
PREMIUM

Mojave Ghost

A deeply engaging book of big poems that feels like a guide for self-reflection.

Exit Opera: Poems

A thoroughly energizing look at life’s big questions that starts on a high note and never stops.
PREMIUM

Wish Ave

Beautiful if sometimes challenging reading for poetry sophisticates.
PREMIUM

The Murmuring Grief of the Americas

Borzutzky remains one of contemporary poetry’s most incisive surveyors of cultural and institutional rot, but a slightly scattershot style leaves his latest collection feeling occasionally disjunctive.
PREMIUM

36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem

Le’s stunning poetry debut is not to be missed, but the print edition is preferable to the audio.
PREMIUM

DEED

Certain to make some readers uncomfortable, and sometimes somewhat overextended, this remains remarkable poetry.
PREMIUM

Go Figure

While a few of the poems here can feel too reductive, this is classic Armantrout in the nature of its language and the depth of its thought. Poetry fans will want.
PREMIUM

Hivestruck

Energized observations for both younger readers, who will gleefully pull apart the inferences, and those who, like Toro, number “among the last generation to remember a time before the hive plugged in.”

‘36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem’ by Nam Le | LJ Review of the Day

36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem

This brief, potent book offers a fresh understanding of diaspora; readers of contemporary poetry will seek it out.

‘unalone’ by Jessica Jacobs | LJ Review of the Day

unalone

Speaking to Jew and Gentile, believer and nonbeliver, this poetry collection makes our hungers radiant. Highly recommended.
PREMIUM

Daywork: Poems

These smart, readable poems are deceptively simple, with their implications emerging slowly as readers ponder along with the poet. A collection to dwell in; Fisher merits watching.
PREMIUM

Proverbs of Limbo: Poems

Memory and presence rub together beautifully in a rich patchwork quilt that sometimes doesn’t feel completely stitched together but whose immediacy is rewarding. A conversation starter from an important poet.

2024 Stars So Far | Poetry

‘Bluff: Poems’ by Danez Smith | LJ Review of the Day

Reconstruction of the Poet: Uncollected Works of Zbigniew Herbert

Indispensable writing from one of this age’s major poets and moralists. Highly recommended.

Bluff: Poems

Not to be missed; sure to be one of the best collections of the year.
PREMIUM

Sonnets for a Missing Key

For enthusiasts of Percival’s writing.

Award-Winning Author Stephen C. Pollock Discusses His Poetry Collection Exits

Being Reflected Upon

A rich and bracing visit with one of our best poets; highly recommended.

Another Land of My Body

Leonard has written a work that can and should be savored by a wide range of readers.

Modern Poetry: Poems

A highly recommended volume that can be equally appreciated by dedicated poetry readers and those for whom it might be that rare reading of verse.
PREMIUM

Fugitive/Refuge

A wide-ranging work of current import, shaped by an intimate and urgent tone that draws in the reader.
PREMIUM

Silver: Poems

From fox to car to misty morning, silver glints throughout this polished collection, woven in like meaningfulness in life. A strong entry, appealing for most readers.

Wrong Norma

Original, erudite, yet straightforwardly written; highly recommended for poetry enthusiasts.
PREMIUM

Black Bell

Complex and intriguing, this work will attract readers of cutting-edge poetry.
PREMIUM

Colorfast

At once down-to-earth and sensuous; for most collections.
PREMIUM

With My Back to the World: Poems

Though Chang finally concedes that “My error was to become what / I wanted to be, not its tone,” there’s no easy understanding here. She’s grappling, and readers will too, but her refusal to trade in cliché makes this book stand out.

The Animal Is Chemical

A deeply human book for all readers.
PREMIUM

woke up no light: poems

Clocking in at just over 90 minutes, this brief collection of poems speaks volumes and merits much relistening. Poetry is meant to be heard, and Mottley’s voice resonates.

Rangikura: Poems

Tibble’s collection is at once sensual, playful, and contemplative. This can’t-miss audio fairly glows.

Spectral Evidence: Poems

An intricate and richly varied collection that reveals new insight with every poem that’s read. Pardlo stuns with this relentless examination of race, prejudice, and fear.

Sturge Town: Poems

Like one of his heroes, Bob Marley, Dawes changes not just the way readers look at the world but the lens through which they see reality. His is a transcendent vision, filled with tenderness, curiosity, and compassion for what has been and what might be.
PREMIUM

A Year of Last Things: Poems

A mesmerizing audio, enhanced by the author’s heartfelt narration. Recommended for listeners hoping to immerse themselves in a poetic escape that is beautifully written and raw.

LJ Talks with Aris Kian, Houston’s Poet Laureate

National Poetry Month 2024 | A Reading List

"Methuselah" by Aris Kian

PREMIUM

Root Fractures: Poems

At turns heartbreaking and breathtaking, this collection of poems and images stuns. Listeners will be eager for more from this talented poet.
PREMIUM

Tiny Extravaganzas

Braced by that ordinary tenderness and a crackling intelligence, this is work for anyone interested in contemporary poetry.

Besaydoo: Poems

This brief, quietly gorgeous audiobook reveals new meaning with every listen. A radiant addition to any poetry collection.
PREMIUM

How To Be a Good Savage and Other Poems

A groundbreaking and deeply passionate poetry collection that celebrates language and feminine power. Not to be missed.

A Year of Last Things: Poems

A powerful, thoughtful collection of observations and contemplations; a beautiful and valuable addition to the world of poetry by one of its most inspiring writers. Readers who love the work of W.S. Merwin, Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, and Louise Gluck will want to savor this new collection.

Host

A stunning collection of poems, worth reading again and again.

The Beloved Community

Moving and powerful, Jones’s latest collection is recommended for most libraries.
PREMIUM

Dream Apartment

At their best, these poems work their magic through just such a sequential movement.

The Fears

This evocative book is recommended for all libraries.
PREMIUM

Grand Tour: Poems

Gonzalez’s collection is a strong debut that is sure to captivate a broad spectrum of readers.

Sweet Movie: Poems

A rich and thought-provoking collection. Poetry lovers and Dietzman fans will want to read these poems over and over again and can find something new to enjoy or admire each time.
PREMIUM

What Small Sound: Poems

Powerful and full of emotion, with themes that will engage readers from many different audiences.
PREMIUM

A Scrap in the Blessings Jar: New and Selected Poems

A collection rich in knowledge about what it means to be human, the rewards and responsibilities of love, and how nature can assuage pain and fear. Highly recommended.
PREMIUM

Homeland of My Body: New and Selected Poems

Accessible and sincere, Blanco’s poems may sometimes play tag with unmasked sentiment, but they are equally capable of sharp commentary (“History’s most constant conceit: that to love/ a country justifies killing everyone who does/ not love it exactly as we wish”) and a keen engagement with contemporary American life.

This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets

This amazing anthology may be the most important poetry collection of this decade. It is a book for poetry lovers, a book for the curious, a book of comfort, a book of prayer, a book of passion and a book of joy, a book of sorrow and a book of desire, but in the end, it is simply and wondrously a grand and glorious book.
PREMIUM

The Asking: New and Selected Poems

A superb collection from a remarkable poet whose prodigious talent grows with every addition to her oeuvre.

Best Poetry of 2023

PREMIUM

Girls from the County

This audiobook may be short, but it is seriously spooky. Recommended for those who love gothic poetry or true crime or listeners wanting to get in the Halloween spirit.
PREMIUM

Organs of Little Importance

An engrossing blend of the contemporary and classical, laced with irony, humor, and a deep sense of the now.

Paper Banners

Miller is able to go inside her subjects and draw readers with her. That experience makes this collection one for all libraries.

Spectral Evidence: Poems

Complex, linguistically rich, and unsparing in its analysis of both the current national psyche as well as the poet’s own, Pardlo’s poetry dares to ask: “What if we didn’t define ourselves according to our ability to know ourselves, but by our capacity to relate to others?”
PREMIUM

Watch Your Language: Visual and Literary Reflections on a Century of American Poetry

Hayes successfully provides a multidimensional work that serves as an outline of American poetry history, a reflection on a poet’s life, and a thoughtful discussion guide for groups or classes.
PREMIUM

School of Instructions: A Poem

For patient, attentive readers, Hutchinson delivers a spoil of linguistic, philosophical, and spiritual riches.
PREMIUM

Up Late: Poems

While the poems in the last third of the book seem a shade lighter than those preceding them, this collection offers readers a satisfyingly rich palette of imagery and insight.
PREMIUM

The Many Hundreds of the Scent: Poems

McCrae’s innovative stylistics and associative leaps take some getting used to, but his poetry echoes his hope that “what once seemed strange to you/ Becomes your heart.”

What You Want: Poems

The poetics of spontaneity is not unusual, but McLane brings to it a honed sensibility and voice entirely her own.

Chrome Valley: Poems

This powerful and accessible collection of poetry, amplified by Browne’s skilled narration, is ideal for both established fans of and newcomers to contemporary poetry, plus those who like Jasmine Mans and Jacqueline Woodson.

The Lights

Sometimes it can feel like a tale of two works, the junction not quite seamless, with some of the poetry here feeling a bit more academic and opaque next to the thrilling prose. But on the whole, this is another stunningly audacious work from Lerner that surveys life through the lens of art and vice versa, intimate and universal, challenging but deeply rewarding.

So To Speak

Quietly devastating and exquisitely wrought, these poems are among the very finest of Hayes’s career.
PREMIUM

I Love Information: Poems

Stringing together random-declarative sentences without periods, some seemingly related and others not, does not make for good poetry. Not recommended.

Things I Didn’t Do with This Body

Occasionally, some one-word titles don’t do justice to the poems, and in a few the rhyming seems overdone, but this poet writes what is vital and necessary. These poems are raw, emotional, and fierce in their rush to get words out into the world. Highly recommended.
PREMIUM

Ghost Apples: Poems

Appropriate for followers of Coles’s work and especially readers connected with nature.
PREMIUM

The Wild Hunt Divinations: A Grimoire

There’s an artfulness of intention behind this work, but placing these anagrammed lines beside those of Shakespeare doesn’t enhance it. Ketner may have discovered an ingenious technique, but unfortunately their method does not result in ingenious poetry.

Winter Stranger: Poems

A remarkable new voice plumbing our grief; highly recommended.
PREMIUM

Mare’s Nest

Ultimately, Mitchell’s language is reminiscent of Dylan Thomas’s “Fern Hill” and draws from a similar source: life bursting forth on the farm beside an undercurrent of death. As Thomas’s famed line says, “Time held me green and dying/ Though I sang in my chains like the sea.”
PREMIUM

Plantains and Our Becoming: Poems

Deeply moving and personal while also celebrating Black Latina history and informing readers urgently needing to be educated, Marte’s book is a wonderful addition to any collection.
PREMIUM

The Diaspora Sonnets

Exciting in its combination of traditional form and accessibility, this collection offers a compassionate and poignant reflection on family in diaspora. Highly recommended.
PREMIUM

Console: Poems

A dreamy, vivid, linguistically alive collection that will reward the careful reader.
PREMIUM

Pig: Poems

Some readers unfamiliar with Sax’s work may flinch at its unabashed sexuality, but the poet’s sharp humor, imaginative breadth, and risky candor are expertly tuned to the varieties of human experience.

Shining Stars | The Best Poetry Books of the Year (So Far)

articles
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?