National Poetry Month

Each April, National Poetry Month celebrates the importance of poetry in our lives and culture. Make a special connection with these collections from today's most influential poets.

Updated March 18, 2025
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And still I rise
Angelou, Maya.
Paper Book
In this inspiring poem, Maya Angelou celebrates the courage of the human spirit over the harshest of obstacles. An ode to the power that resides in us all to overcome the most difficult circumstances, this poem is truly an inspiration and affirmation of the faith that restores and nourishes the soul...
Call Us What We Carry Poems
Gorman, Amanda.
Ebook
The instant #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller The breakout poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman Formerly titled The Hill...
Dearly : new poems
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER The collection of a lifetime from the bestselling novelist and poet. By turns moving, playful and wise, the poems gathered in Dearly are about absences and endings, ageing and retrospection, but also about gifts and renewals. They...
Don't read poetry : a book about how to read poems
Burt, Stephanie
Paper Book
An award-winning poet offers a brilliant introduction to the joys--and challenges--of the genre In Don't Read Poetry, award-winning poet and literary critic Stephanie Burt offers an accessible introduction to the seemingly daunting task of...
Girls that never die : poems
Elhillo, Safia
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Intimate poems that explore feminine shame and violence and imagine what liberation from these threats might look like, from the award-winning author of The January Children  "Incredibly moving . . . Every single poem is stellar."--Roxane Gay,...
How a poem moves : a field guide for readers of poetry
Sol, Adam
Paper Book
A collection of playfully elucidating essays to help reluctant poetry readers become well-versed in verse Developed from Adam Sol's popular blog, How a Poem Moves is a collection of 35 short essays that walks readers through an array of contemporary poems. Sol is a dynamic...
How to read poetry like a professor : a quippy and sonorous guide to verse
Foster, Thomas C.
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor comes this essential primer to reading poetry like a professor that unlocks the keys to enjoying works from Lord Byron to the Beatles. No literary form is as admired and feared as poetry. Admired for its...
Inheritance : a visual poem
Acevedo, Elizabeth
Paper Book
They tell me to "fix" my hair. And by fix, they mean straighten, they mean whiten; but how do you fix this shipwrecked history of hair? In her most famous spoken-word poem, author of the Pura Belpré-winning novel-in-verse The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo embraces all the...
Milk and Honey
Kaur, Rupi.
Ebook
Morning glory on the vine : early songs & drawings
Mitchell, Joni
Paper Book
A gorgeous compendium of Joni Mitchell's handwritten lyrics and drawings, originally handcrafted as a gift for a select group of friends in 1971 and now available to the public for the first time   In 1971, as her album Blue topped charts around the world, Joni...
The poetry home repair manual : practical advice for beginning poets
Kooser, Ted.
Paper Book
Ted Kooser has been writing and publishing poetry for more than forty years. In the pages of The Poetry Home Repair Manual, Kooser brings those decades of experience to bear. Here are tools and insights, the instructions (and warnings against instructions) that poets--aspiring or...
Promise that you will sing about me : the power and poetry of Kendrick Lamar
Lewis, Miles Marshall
Paper Book
A stunning, in-depth look at the power and poetry of one of the most consequential rappers of our time. Kendrick Lamar is one of the most influential rappers, songwriters and record producers of his generation. Widely known for his incredible lyrics and powerful music, he is...
Taylor Swift by the book : the literature behind the lyrics, from fairy tales to tortured poets
Feder, Rachel
Paper Book
"Even the most obsessive Swiftie will discover new Easter eggs in these pages."--Oprah Daily From a Robert Frost poem on her debut album to the myth of Cassandra on The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift's lyrics are filled with literary connections. ...
Weaving sundown in a scarlet light : fifty poems for fifty years
Harjo, Joy
Paper Book
Over a long, influential career in poetry, Joy Harjo has been praised for her "warm, oracular voice" (John Freeman, Boston Globe) that speaks "from a deep and timeless source of compassion for all" (Craig Morgan Teicher, NPR). Her poems are musical, intimate, political, and wise, intertwining...
Why poetry
Zapruder, Matthew
Paper Book
An impassioned call for a return to reading poetry and an incisive argument for poetry's accessibility to all readers, by critically acclaimed poet Matthew Zapruder In Why Poetry, award-winning poet Matthew Zapruder takes on what it is that poetry--and poetry alone--can do. Zapruder argues...
I would leave me if I could : a collection of poetry
Halsey
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Grammy Award-nominated, platinum-selling musician Halsey is heralded as one of the most compelling voices of their generation. In I Would Leave Me If I Could, they reveal never-before-seen poetry of longing, love, and the nuances of...

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