Poetry for Adults

April is National Poetry Month, an occasion to celebrate poets and poetry, and to mark poetry’s importance in our lives.

Updated March 24, 2024
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Pilgrim bell : poems
Akbar, Kaveh
Paper Book
Kaveh Akbar's exquisite, highly anticipated follow-up to Calling a Wolf a Wolf With formal virtuosity and ruthless precision, Kaveh Akbar's second collection takes its readers on a spiritual journey of disavowal, fiercely attendant to the presence of divinity...
This is the honey : an anthology of contemporary Black poets
Alexander, Kwame
Paper Book
A breathtaking poetry collection on hope, heart, and heritage from the most prominent and promising Black poets and writers of our time, edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander. In this comprehensive and vibrant poetry anthology,...
The complete poetry
Angelou, Maya.
Paper Book
The beauty and spirit of Maya Angelou's words live on in this complete collection of poetry, including her inaugural poem "On the Pulse of Morning" Throughout her illustrious career in letters, Maya Angelou gifted, healed, and inspired the world with her words. Now...
NDN coping mechanisms : notes from the field
Belcourt, Billy-Ray
Paper Book
In his follow-up to This Wound is a World, Billy-Ray Belcourt's Griffin Poetry Prize-winning collection, NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes from the Field is a provocative, powerful, and genre-bending new work that uses the modes of accusation and interrogation. He aims an...
This wound is a world
Belcourt, Billy-Ray
Paper Book
The new edition of a prize-winning memoir-in-poems, a meditation on life as a queer Indigenous man--available for the first time in the United States "i am one of those hopeless romantics who wants every blowjob to be transformative." Billy-Ray Belcourt's debut poetry collection...
Selected poems
Borges, Jorge Luis
Paper Book
When Viking published Borges's Collected Fictions last September, the book received nationwide acclaim. Richard Bernstein in The New York Times hailed the publication as "an event, and cause for celebration." The celebration continues this April with the next installment in Vikings projected three...
Poems from the moor
Bronte, Emily
Paper Book
"Though Earth and moon were gone, And suns and universes ceased to be, And Thou wert left alone, Every Existence would exist in Thee." From the transcendent beauty of nature observed on the Yorkshire moors to fierce and forceful...
Quiet : poems
Bulley, Victoria Adukwei
Paper Book
A black British poet making her thrilling American debut explores the importance of "quiet" in producing forms of community, resistance, and love. "Bulley's stunning poems draw you in with their melodious versatility, intellect and dexterity; [they] perfectly embody the...
Poetry of presence : an anthology of mindfulness poems
Cole-Dai, Phyllis
Paper Book
Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems is a collection of poetry that provides a refuge of quiet clarity very much needed in today's restless, chaotic world. Every reader will find favorites to share and to return to, again and again. The diverse group of contributing poets includes...
Poetry 101 : from Shakespeare and Rupi Kaur to iambic pentameter and blank verse, everything you need to know about poetry
Dalzell, Susan
Paper Book
Become a poet and write poetry with ease with help from this clear and simple guide in the popular 101 series. Poetry never goes out of style. An ancient writing form found in civilizations across the world, poetry continues to inform the way we write now, whether we realize it...
Mayakovsky's revolver
Dickman, Matthew.
Paper Book
At the center of Mayakovsky's Revolver is the suicide of Matthew Dickman's older brother. "Known for poems of universality of feeling, expressive lyricism of reflection, and heartrending allure" (Major Jackson), Dickman is a powerful poet whose new collection explores how to persevere in the wake...
The best American poetry, 2023
Equi, Elaine
Paper Book
Award-winning poet Elaine Equi selects the poems for the 2023 edition of The Best American Poetry, "a 'best' anthology that really lives up to its title" (Chicago Tribune). Since its debut in 1988, The Best American Poetry series has been "one of the...
Poems 1962-2012
Glück, Louise
Paper Book
It is the astonishment of Louise Glück's poetry that it resists collection. With each successive book her drive to leave behind what came before has grown more fierce, the force of her gaze fixed on what has yet to be imagined. She invented a form to accommodate this need, the book-length...
Winter recipes from the collective
Glück, Louise
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE A haunting book by a poet whose voice speaks of all our lifetimes Louise Glück's thirteenth book is among her most haunting. Here as in the Wild Iris there is a chorus, but the speakers are entirely human,...
Collected poems
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Paper Book
At last, a major American poet collected for the first time in the sixth volume of the definitive Library of Edition of her works STARRED REVIEW IN PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Ursula K. Le Guin's career began and ended with poetry. This sixth volume in the definitive...
So far so good : final poems: 2014-2018
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Paper Book
"Ursula K. Le Guin, loved by millions for her fantasy and science-fiction novels, ponders life, death and the vast beyond in So Far So Good, an astute, charming collection finished weeks before her death in January, 2018. Fans will recognize some of the motifs here--cats, wind, strong women -...
Ursula K. Le Guin : conversations on writing
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Paper Book
When the New York Times referred to Ursula K. Le Guin as America's greatest writer of science fiction, they just might have undersold her legacy. It's hard to look at her vast body of work?novels and stories across multiple genres, poems, translations, essays, speeches, and criticism...
Living nations, living words : an anthology of first peoples poetry
Harjo, Joy
Paper Book
Joy Harjo, the first Native poet to serve as U.S. Poet Laureate, has championed the voices of Native peoples past and present. Her signature laureate project gathers the work of contemporary Native poets into a national, fully digital map of story, sound, and space, celebrating their vital and...
Weaving sundown in a scarlet light : fifty poems for fifty years
Harjo, Joy
Paper Book
A magnificent selection of fifty poems to celebrate three-term US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo's fifty years as a poet. 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...
When the light of the world was subdued, our songs came through : a Norton anthology of Native nations poetry
Harjo, Joy
Paper Book
United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo gathers the work of more than 160 poets, representing nearly 100 indigenous nations, into one momentous volume. This landmark anthology celebrates the indigenous peoples of North America, the first poets of this country, whose literary traditions stretch back...
American sonnets for my past and future assassin
Hayes, Terrance
Paper Book
In seventy poems bearing the same title, Terrance Hayes explores the meanings of American, of assassin, and of love in the sonnet form. Written during the first two hundred days of the Trump presidency, these poems are haunted by the country's past and future eras and errors, its dreams and...
Every day we get more illegal
Herrera, Juan Felipe
Paper Book
Voted a Best Poetry Book of the Year by Library Journal Included in Publishers Weekly's Top 10 Poetry Books of the Year One of LitHub's most Anticipated Books of the Year! A State of the Union from the nation's first Latino Poet Laureate. Trenchant, compassionate, and filled...
The diaspora sonnets
De la Paz, Oliver
Paper Book
In 1972, after Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, Oliver de la Paz's father, in a last fit of desperation to leave the Philippines, threw his papers at an immigration clerk, hoping to get them stamped. He was prepared to leave, having already quit his job and having exchanged pesos for...
Spell
Lauterbach, Ann
Paper Book
A new collection of provocative work from the author of Or To Begin Again, a finalist for the 2009 National Book Award in Poetry Ann Lauterbach is one of America's most inventive poets, acclaimed for her fierce, sensuous, and intellectually charged work. In her tenth...
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...
The hurting kind : poems
Limón, Ada
Paper Book
An astonishing collection about interconnectedness--between the human and nonhuman, ancestors and ourselves--from National Book Critics Circle Award winner, National Book Award finalist and U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón. "I have always been too...
The mermaid's voice returns in this one
Lovelace, Amanda
Paper Book
The mermaid is known for her siren song, luring bedroom-eyed sailors to their demise. However, beneath these misguided myths are tales of escapism and healing, which Lovelace weaves throughout this empowering collection of poetry, taking you on a journey from the sea to the stars. They tried to...
And we rise : the Civil Rights Movement in poems
Martin, Erica
Paper Book
*"A powerful, necessary book." SLJ, starred review A powerful, impactful, eye-opening journey that explores through the Civil Rights Movement in 1950s-1960s America in spare and evocative verse, with historical photos interspersed throughout. In stunning verse...
On love and barley
Matsuo, Basho
Paper Book
Basho, one of the greatest of Japanese poets and the master of haiku, was also a Buddhist monk and a life-long traveller. His poems combine 'karumi', or lightness of touch, with the Zen ideal of oneness with creation. Each poem evokes the natural world - the cherry blossom, the leaping frog, the...
Classic haiku : a master's selection
Miura, Yuzuru.
Paper Book
Westerners have long been fascinated by haiku, the traditional Japanese verse form composed of seventeen syllables. These miniature masterpieces can express a dramatic scene or philosophical idea in a single line of verse.
Book of twilight
Neruda, Pablo
Paper Book
"The greatest poet of the 20th century in any language."--Gabriel Garcia Marquez "His enormous scope was due to the fact that he dared take on the risks of impurity, imperfection, and, yes, banality. He had to do it, in order to name a world. Our world."--New York Times "Neruda...
Blue horses : poems
Oliver, Mary
Paper Book
In this stunning collection of new poems, Mary Oliver returns to the imagery that has defined her life's work, describing with wonder both the everyday and the unaffected beauty of nature. Herons, sparrows, owls, and kingfishers flit across the page in meditations on love, artistry, and...
Devotions : the selected poems of Mary Oliver
Oliver, Mary
Paper Book
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver presents a personal selection of her best work in this definitive collection spanning more than five decades of her esteemed literary career. "No matter where one starts reading, Devotions offers much to love, from Oliver's exuberant dog...
Dog Songs : thirty-five dog songs and one essay
Oliver, Mary
Paper Book
"The popularity of [Dog Songs] feels as inevitable and welcome as a wagging tail upon homecoming." --The Boston Globe   Mary Oliver's Dog Songs is a celebration of the special bond between human and dog, as understood through the poet's relationships to...
Felicity
Oliver, Mary
Paper Book
"A breezy, inviting collection of love poems that celebrates the divine as much as it does the natural world or human relationships . . . An eloquent celebration of simple joy from one of America's most beloved poets." --The Washington Post "Oliver's poems are thoroughly...
Swan : poems and prose poems
Oliver, Mary
Paper Book
"Joy is not made to be a crumb," writes Mary Oliver, and certainly joy abounds in her new book of poetry and prose poems. Swan, her twentieth volume, shows us that, though we may be "made out of the dust of stars," we are of the world she captures here so vividly: the acorn that hides...
White pine : poems and prose poemsMary Oliver.
Oliver, Mary, 1935-
Paper Book
In her first collection since winning the National Book Award in 1993, Mary Oliver writes of the silky bonds between every person and the natural world, of the delight of writing, of the value of silence. "[Her] poems are...as genuine, moving and implausible as the first caressing breeze of spring"...
There are more beautiful things than Beyonce
Parker, Morgan
Paper Book
The only thing more beautiful than Beyoncé is God,and God is a black woman sipping rosé and drawing alavender bath, texting her mom, belly-laughing in thetherapist's office, feeling unloved, being on display, daring to survive. Morgan Parker stands at the intersectionsof vulnerability and...
Together in a sudden strangeness : America's poets respond to the pandemic
Quinn, Alice
Paper Book
In this urgent outpouring of American voices, our poets speak to us as they shelter in place, addressing our collective fear, grief, and hope from eloquent and diverse individual perspectives. "One of the best books of poetry of the year . . . Quinn has accomplished something...
Four reincarnations : poems
Ritvo, Max
Paper Book
Reverent and profane, entertaining and bruising, Four Reincarnations is a debut collection of poems that introduces an exciting new voice in American letters. When Max Ritvo was diagnosed with cancer at age sixteen, he became the chief war correspondent for his body. The poems of Four...
Dunce
Ruefle, Mary
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE 2020 PULITZER PRIZE IN POETRY A finalist for both the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award and a the LA Times Book Award, and longlisted for the National Book Award. Through her many projects across numerous genres, Mary Ruefle has proven herself a...
Madness, rack, and honey : collected lectures
Ruefle, Mary
Paper Book
This is one of the wisest books I've read in years... --New York Times Book Review No writer I know of comes close to even trying to articulate the weird magic of poetry as Ruefle does. She acknowledges and celebrates in the odd mystery and mysticism of the act--the fact...
From unincorporated territory [Ã¥mot]
Santos Perez, Craig
Paper Book
Winner of the National Book Award for Poetry, this collection of experimental and visual poems dives into the history and culture of the poet's homeland, Guam.   This book is the fifth collection in Craig Santos Perez's ongoing from unincorporated territory<...
Customs : poems
Sharif, Solmaz
Paper Book
Winner of the 2023 CLMP Firecracker Award for Poetry Winner of the 2023 Northern California Book Award for Poetry Finalist for the 2023 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award Finalist for the 2022 L.A. Times Book Prize for Poetry Longlisted for the 2023 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award<...
Above ground : poems
Smith, Clint
Paper Book
A Best Book of the Year 2023: TIME NPR's Best Books New York Public Library Electric Lit The Root NBC Today Mother Jones The New York Times bestselling poetry...
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...
Tripas : poems
Som, Brandon
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE 2024 PULITZER PRIZE IN POETRY With Tripas, Brandon Som follows up his award-winning debut with a book of poems built out of a multicultural, multigenerational childhood home, in which he celebrates his Chicana grandmother, who worked nights on the assembly line at...
Vinegar Hill
To?ibi?n, Colm
Paper Book
From the New York Times best-selling author of Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín's first collection of poetry explores sexuality, religion, and belonging through a modern lens Fans of Colm Tóibín's novels, including The Magician, The Master, and Nora Webster<...
The blue house : collected works of Tomas Transtrm?er
Transtrm?er, Tomas
Paper Book
Nobel Prize-winner Tomas Tranströmer explores the personal and political, the ecological and existential, through poems that expand like the widening scope of a telephoto lens. With slow strokes and subtle, rich lines, The Blue...
Duende : poems, 1966-now
Troupe, Quincy
Paper Book
Quincy Troupe writes poetry in great waves. The words are just notes. It's the music you make with them that matters. Troupe is a generous and gregarious poet in this giant offering that includes many new poems, as well as a selection chosen from across his eleven previously published volumes. What...
Night sky with exit wounds
Vuong, Ocean
Paper Book
The New Yorker, The Best Books of Poetry of 2016 New York Times, Critics Pick Boston Globe, Best Books listing Miami Herald, Best LGBTQ Books San Francisco Chronicle, Top 100 Books of the Year Library Journal, Best Books of 2016 "There is a powerful emotional...
Time is a mother
Vuong, Ocean
Paper Book
"Take your time with these poems, and return to them often." --The Washington Post The New York Times-bestselling collection of poems from the award-winning writer Ocean Vuong How else do we return to ourselves but to fold The...
Black girl you are Atlas
Watson, Renaee
Paper Book
A thoughtful celebration of Black girlhood by award-winning author and poet Renee Watson. In this semi-autobiographical collection of poems, Renee Watson writes about her experience growing up as a young Black girl at the intersections of race, class, and gender.
From from : poems
Youn, Monica
Paper Book
* WINNER OF THE 2024 ANISFIELD-WOLF BOOK AWARD * * FINALIST FOR THE 2023 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * * NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2023 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, NPR, TIME, ELECTRIC LITERATURE, BOMB, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, AND LIBRARY JOURNAL *
African American poetry : 250 years of struggle & song
Young, Kevin
Paper Book
Taking the measure of the tradition in a single indispensable volume, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song sets a new standard for a genuinely deep engagement with Black poetry and its essential expression of American genius.
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...
The pedestrians
Zucker, Rachel.
Paper Book
"Zucker is a poet of bottom-scraping, blood-chilling existential anxiety, one among many, and a poet of New York City, one among many, and a poet of American Jewish inheritance, one among many, and one of the funniest, too."--Boston Review Rachel Zucker returns to themes of...

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