Poetry Recommendations from our 2020 Winter Newsletter

The timeless words of trailblazer Audre Lorde never fail to move, challenge, and inspire me. This stellar collection, edited by Roxane Gay, showcases the breadth of Lorde’s poems and prose as she speaks to motherhood, race, patriarchy, white feminism, and the fight for justice. For those new to Lorde’s thoughtful and brilliant work, Selected Works is a great introduction, and for those of us who are already admirers, it is an essential addition to our shelves. — S.B.

Former US poet laureate Billy Collins’s newest collection (his first in 4 years) is a wonderful gathering of poems that shines with its combination of mirth and depth. While the subject of these poems varies, there is an undercurrent of looking at life from the eyes of someone who is aging and holding mortality in view. I was delighted by the humor and wit that Collins juxtaposes with the tender and profound. This is a wonderful, readable book. Collins has once again proven himself, with poems that delight as much as they touch the heart. — S.M.C.

“How did you make it through those days? / When you’re hurt, you’re not completely in the world.” —Eduardo C. Corral
Guillotine is a mystifying journey between worlds both real and imaginary, where sensation is severe and reason becomes blurred. In Guillotine, Corral has expanded Gloria Anzaldúa’s “borderlands” concept into our present moment, carefully teetering on the small divide between nations, gender identity, sexuality, and realities. Images of desert crossings, bloodied bodies, and dear, untouchable men take shape in bilingual and experimental poetic form. This collection of poems is an essential addition to the developing queer-Latinx imaginary. — Juj

Last year, Margaret Atwood’s partner of more than 40 years, Graeme Gibson, died at the age of 85. Her new collection of poetry, Dearly, encompasses the grief, beauty, and pain of that loss, with all the wit and skill that she possesses. Who can strike your heart with more efficiency than Margaret Atwood? You probably already know that she’s a brilliant novelist; after reading this book, I bet she’ll also be among your favorite poets. — Jess

This collection amplifies and revitalizes the Latin American tradition of protest poetry. Featuring the work of beloved poets such as Cesar Vallejo, Pablo Neruda, Nancy Morejon, and Ana Maria Rodas, this bilingual text asks us to remember that the fight for justice is ongoing and motivated by our own creative and collective power. — Juj

More than a carefully stylized collection of poetry, Finna is an embodiment of Nate Marshall’s world, which is family and Chicago; which is language and Black life. With lyrical precision, sweet slang, and cunning rhythm, Marshall acknowledges the violence imposed on Black and Brown bodies; the cultural elements that promote spiritual fortitude; and the opportunity to embrace the future as a space of beautiful possibility. His work is a testament to the people who have inspired it, and as Marshall writes, “our people deserve / poetry without meter. we deserve our / own jagged rhythm & our own uneven / walk towards sun.” These poems demand mourning, deep reckoning, and wonderful celebration. Read them. — Juj

Organized by geographic location of the poets’ Nations, the poems in this wide-ranging anthology run from the 17th century to the present day, some in English, some bilingual (translated from Native Nations languages), varying in form and content from traditions Eastern, Western, and Indigenous. Each section is preceded by editors’ essays which give context and appreciation, guiding you as the reader on a tour of American literature that may lead you to your next favorite poet. — Jocelyn

As the recent US poet laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera traveled the country, listening and engaging with its communities, particularly those marginalized and endangered. His newest collection of poems, some written while on the road, captures what he found, who he met, what is felt. Lyrical, indicting, hopeful, Herrera plays lightly with language, finding new ways to see America and his place in it: “used to think I was not American enuf / now it is the other way around”. — Melinda