For readers seeking a mental break from what seems like an endless stream of political books dominating the news cycle, this fall brings worthy poetry to the fore. Here are five September collections to note. Also coming in October is African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song (Library of America), edited by Kevin Young, another key purchase.
 

• How To Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton by Lucille Clifton; ed. by Aracelis Girmay (BOA). National Book Award winner Clifton, who died in 2010, is a key poet to know. This new collection, edited by poet Girmay,  includes poems both previously and never before published.
   
• Whale Day: And Other Poems by Billy Collins (Random).
  Former U.S. poet laureate Collins here presents more than 50 new poems. Each offering celebrates the everyday, while collectively these selections provide a fresh way of understanding and seeing the world. Also publishing this month is Marge Piercy's On the Way Out, Turn Off the Light: Poems (Random). Both Collins and Piercy are mainstay poets, whose books belong in all collections.
   
• Resistencia: Poems of Protest and Revolution; ed. by Mark Eisner and Tina Escaja (Tin House).
  This rich, bilingual collection features the work of Latin American poets, presenting a solid introduction to the school of protest poetry.
   
• The Half-God of Rainfall by Inua Ellams (Fourth Estate: HarperCollins UK).
  Nigeria-born, London-based Ellams is working hard to change the way readers approach poetry. Praised by Neil Gaiman and already adapted into a stage production, this highly narrative, book-length poem recasts the Greek myths into a story of a modern-day demi-god who plays basketball. Another don't-miss title from HarperCollins is Barbara Kingsolver's How To Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons): Poetry.
   
• Swimming Lessons: Poems by Lili Reinhart (Griffin: St. Martin’s ).
  This buzzy debut collection from actress Reinhart (Riverdale, Chemical Hearts) will continue to expand the appeal of poetry to a wide audience and is likely to be of interest to followers of a number of Instagram poets.