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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.

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?”

Paper Banners

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

Promises of Gold

Seemingly tailor-made for audio, this powerful book is a must-purchase. Olivarez’s invitation to share moments of his history, culture, love, and joy is wholly affecting.

Celebrate National Poetry Month

PREMIUM

West: A Translation

A remarkable collection offering history not typically told in textbooks; an accompanying website (westtrain.org) with video poems and historical images adds context.
PREMIUM

Flickering

It’s easy to get lost in Rogers’s lush language, but there are larger issues here that will make the book appealing not just to poetry readers but to anyone concerned with the environment.

Overland

A fine exploration of nature and self in crisis; those familiar with Eilbert’s work will not be disappointed, while new readers will be eager to explore her further.
PREMIUM

Rose Quartz: Poems

A beautifully rendered sense of someone blown to bits by social and cultural injustices and still in the remaking.
PREMIUM

A Fire in the Hills

An accessible collection from a poet who continues to probe the past, present, and interconnectedness of being.
PREMIUM

I’m Always So Serious

An assured debut from a writer to watch.

suddenly we

Another accomplished work from Shockley; highly recommended.

Above Ground

While this collection will resonate most deeply with parents, its wisdom, humanity, and sheer eloquence speak to a time and condition all readers will recognize.
PREMIUM

Your Kingdom

An engaging collection, perhaps more contemplative than Sikelianos’s previous work, for nature lovers and beyond.

Trace Evidence: Poems

Shanahan’s new work meets anguish and pain directly and ultimately proposes a tender and expansive possibility: “If you are on this earth/ You are of this earth.” Emotionally vulnerable and insightful; a work in which all readers likely will find something of themselves.

Tanya: Poems

A remarkable book achieving all its ambitions; highly recommended.

PREMIUM

Skeletons

In a book coursing with energy, Landau remains in control. “This is my fifth book of poems. I had my way with each of them.” Indeed she has! A good addition to most collections.
PREMIUM

Was It for This: Poems

Perhaps not as absorbing as her first work, though this may depend on the reader; still, Sullivan remains an original and observant writer.
PREMIUM

Icelight

For poems probing deep ontological and existential concerns, these are remarkably free of lecture or cant. Sophisticated readers will grab especially, but this work is accessible to all.

Judas Goat: Poems

Thrillingly bold, this collection is at once unique in approach, mischievous in its navigation of ideas, and lush yet controlled in its use of language, rupturing the division between the domestic and the primal to both delicate and brutal ends.

Calligraphies: Poems

Occasionally, a phrase brushes improbability (“My horse and my notebook think// what I am thinking/ through an orgy of cadence”), but these poems breathe with life; even in a collection this large, the reader stays involved. “On the road,/ cars rarify, whisk by trees that explode/ in redbud, apple blossom, presage fruit”: a poetic journey not to be missed.
PREMIUM

Still Falling: Poems

Coming from deep inside, these poems work by free association, often alluding to falling rain, snow, and even sunlight pouring onto a surface, all of which add a spiritual resonance to these hypnotic and meditative poems.
PREMIUM

Door

Challenging reading for those who don’t know her work, but a welcome volume for those who do.

Display Shelf | Poetry

PREMIUM

Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems To Open Your World

Listeners will experience and learn something different with every visit to this stunning collection. A necessary purchase for newcomers and seasoned poetry lovers alike. Suggest to fans of William Sieghart’s The Poetry Remedy.

Woman Without Shame

This luminous collection from a treasured writer is a must-listen and a necessary addition to every poetry collection.

From From: Poems

Youn does an extraordinary job of blending historical themes with haunting modern-day experiences to clarify sense of self. Readers will be captivated.

Concentrate: Poems

Simply put, one of the best books this reviewer has read in the last 12 months.

True Life: Poems

Readers who enjoy W.S. Merwin, Mary Oliver, and Jane Kenyon will feel quite at home with Zagajewski’s poems; like those writers, he is never obscure or tentative but always luminous and alive. Essential for academic libraries and a worthy purchase for contemporary poetry collections in public libraries.

To 2040

A masterpiece that belongs in every library where poetry is found.
PREMIUM

The World Behind the World: Poems

Bernard has a sharp, critical eye and an ability to paint a scene quickly while also coloring it with social resonance. Similar word choices occasionally get repeated from poem to poem, but this collection is a marvel, gifting the reader with new subjects, unique perspectives, and an exuberant musicality that nearly leaps across the page. Highly recommended.
PREMIUM

Wind, Trees

A fine collection recommended for any library.

Redaction

A powerful document of social injustice, BISACed as social science but of crucial interest for arts and poetry collections; pricey but worth it for many libraries.

Best Poetry of 2022

Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems To Open Your World

With his intimate tone, Ó Tuama takes poetry out of the classroom and puts it back into the hands of the reader. He thereby makes the world a better place. Recommended for poetry collections everywhere.

Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years

Harjo is a national treasure, perhaps even a national resource, and this important book is an essential addition to contemporary poetry collections everywhere.
PREMIUM

A Fire in My Head: Poems for the Dawn

It’s “time to write on the face of the earth/ the value and meaning of every name,” Okri writes. Globally engaged, accessible, and relevant.

Smoking the Bible

A masterly and distinctive study of the travails of leaving home; highly recommended.
PREMIUM

Event Horizon

Many readers will appreciate the way Marvin’s bang-on honesty reframes the ordinary; an enlightening, accessible tome.

The Waste Land: A Biography of a Poem

Highly recommended for readers interested in the details behind the creation of this literary landmark and the times in which it was composed.
PREMIUM

Content Warning: Everything

Though lacking the lushness of Emezi’s best fiction, these poems urgently communicate a relatable search for identity and safety and will resonate with a wide range of readers wanting to undertake that search, too. Especially important in presenting another dimension of this gifted writer.
PREMIUM

Now Do You Know Where You Are

Even as it lofts us on high to see the warp and weft of the universe and our own troubled place therein, this collection turns out to be a strangely reassuring read. A satisfying work from an accomplished poet.

Balladz

A visceral collection with the “I” at its center blazing and brave; highly recommended.

PREMIUM

Harbinger: Poems

Though a few are not fully realized, in general these poems balance the dire and dystopian with the joyful and caring, inviting the reader to stay onboard for each new voyage. A collection that should not be missed.

The Symmetry of Fish

These resonant poems of heritage and self are recommended for all collections.
PREMIUM

Relinquenda: Poems

Beautiful in form and content, Regalado’s lyrical work will appeal broadly to readers interested in emotional connection.

Migrations: Poem, 1976–2020

Readers will not find a direct narrative here, as the verses don’t always flow seamlessly from one section to the other, but they can nonetheless bask in a remarkable poetic experience.
PREMIUM

Extinction Theory: Poems

A fine, fresh consideration of how we live; for most collections.
PREMIUM

Draw Me After: Poems

Coming from Cole’s fascination with word play and paradox, the best of these poems are laced with alliteration and rhyme, shape-shifting as they focus on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the creative process. For poetry readers who like pondering deep questions.

PREMIUM

Ask the Brindled: Poems

Aiming high and occasionally staggering under the weight of its linguistic and formal experimentation, this vivid work should be read as an advance on aesthetics and the excavation of colonialism.

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On

A collection that will startle readers.

The Rupture Tense: Poems

An elegy for Xie’s grandmother points out, “Nowhere goes clean through the static of decades without hitting a nerve,” and Xie hits nerves throughout in stunning and evocative language. Highly recommended.
PREMIUM

In a Few Minutes Before Later

Occasionally these poems feel full to overflowing, but Hillman’s majestic new work belongs in most poetry collections.
PREMIUM

The Hurting Kind

An accomplished volume highly recommended for both neophytes and poetry lovers.
PREMIUM

Lapis

Despite its challenges, a book to be appreciated by poetry sophisticates.

Finalists

Armantrout at her most thoughtful; highly recommended.
PREMIUM

Belly to the Brutal

Givhan’s strong, vibrant writing can also be dense and layering, sometimes slowing up an understanding of her meaning, but the result is great for the word-hungry and readers interested in the female experience.
PREMIUM

I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom

Lit up with sudden lyricism (“Her body releasing mist from the hurricane inside her”), Dower’s sharply observed quotidian detail will draw in even casual readers of poetry.
PREMIUM

Bad Poetry, Vol. 1: Tumbleweed

Recommended for those who want a straightforward, heartfelt read in tumultuous times, including YAs looking for resonance and anyone appreciating the insouciance of Rodriguez’s title.
PREMIUM

Mathematics for Ladies: Poems on Women in Science

For science readers who love poetry, poetry readers who love science, and feminists and students of all ages. [For more on this collection, see “Curating Creativity: Jessy Randall Finds Inspiration in the Archives | Peer to Peer Review.”]

PREMIUM

Your Face My Flag

In a collection that’s vividly detailed and layered, Gewirtz proves to be a wonderful storyteller, covering a wide range of subjects and frequently addressing social justice issues. Recommended for all collections.
PREMIUM

Cotton Candy: Poems Dipped Out of the Air

More of the sweet stuff Kooser’s dedicated readers have come to expect from him.

A Brilliant Loss

A beautiful and accessible meditation on language and self, the very core of poetry, that will appeal to a wide range of readers.

The Study of Human Life

Though Bennett’s poems seem effortless in their lyric grace (“the vanishing/ world of living things no louder than the sound/ of insects whimpering in their dust-sized sorrows”) and organic progressions, they are better described as effortful, given memorable presence by their intimacy, mindful craft, and visionary pursuit. Expect this work to appear on many “best poetry” lists for 2022.
PREMIUM

The End of Michelangelo

A timeless oasis of quietude in our contemporary maelstrom of uncertainty and apprehension, Gerber’s poetry vividly reminds us that while “the scale of pleasure ascends into terror…/ the pleasure is in being alive.”
PREMIUM

Flutter, Kick

Ross’s lovely, provocative work will appeal to a wide range of readers, whether for the way she finds larger issues within the personal or her singular use of language.
PREMIUM

Please make me pretty, I don’t want to die: Poems

A sharp, playful, and thoughtful work for poetry lovers.

Song of My Softening

It’s not often that fat women feel such thorough representation of themselves not only in poetry but in any media and not only in the beautiful moments but in the sorrowful ones, ranging throughout life. James does a brilliant job of portraying this and all her themes brilliantly; highly recommended.
PREMIUM

Time Is a Mother

This is a timely collection of poetry and will make a great addition to any library collection.

Alive at the End of the World

Jones’s most free-flowing work yet, a centripetal collection where rage and pain and weariness swirl and coalesce with stunning emotional and conceptual clarity, yet so intimate it feels bled from the author’s very veins.
PREMIUM

In the Bowl of My Eye

The award-winning Garebian (including honors from the Scarborough Arts Council and the Ontario Poetry Society) offers a distinctive perspective on modern life that may well prove of interest to a number of readers.
PREMIUM

Bluest Nude: Poems

The collection’s organizing principle can feel a bit injudicious at times, with some poems easily bleeding into the next while others feel like slamming into a wall, but the potency of Codjoe’s language and keenness of her thematic renderings never fails to enthrall. Fiercely intelligent and both emotionally and formally rich.
PREMIUM

Normal Distance

Ultimately, Gabbert writes her memoir-like poems around quotidian events such as awakening from sleep, going shopping, and contemplating boredom, loneliness, or life during the pandemic, interspersing snappy comments like “Paper or plastic?” with profundities. All of which leaves readers on edge, which is Gabbert’s intention.
PREMIUM

Black Swim

A lyrical, nuanced, and inventive debut.
PREMIUM

Turn Up the Ocean: Poems

Hoagland’s poetry earns the oft-misused adjective uncompromising for its directness in the face of reality’s “blithering whirlwind of wonder.” Though one wishes his life had not ended so soon, this collection will stand as a fitting capstone to a stellar poetic career.
PREMIUM

And Yet: Poems

An uneven poetry collection, but ultimately, the author’s pulse on social mores makes for an interesting read, as does her hard-earned understanding of married love and family life during bleak pandemic times. Recommended for public libraries.

Black Roses: Odes Celebrating Powerful Black Women

Green’s writing and narration make poetry accessible to everyone.
PREMIUM

O

Hashem Beck does a brilliant job of blending the personal with larger themes, and readers will find themselves transported by this collection, whether it be to a dermatologist’s office or Babel or an olive tree from the past, with initials carved into its trunk. For most collections.
PREMIUM

Ante body

Helal is a powerful voice in poetry, and this newest work does an excellent job of challenging readers to think differently about society. Those unfamiliar with Helal’s work may benefit from reading the author’s notes before diving into the poems, to get a better understanding of the collection and the formatting.
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