In celebration of poetry month, consider one of the following Notable Books Lists winning titles from the past five years for your next poetry read.
“I Know Your Kind” by William Brewer. Milkweed Editions.
Set in small town Appalachia, this powerful collection humanizes America’s opioid epidemic.
“Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded” by Molly McCully Brown. Persea Books.
A dark imagining of life at a government run institution.
“Cannibal” by Safiya Sinclair (University of Nebraska Press)
Sharp observations on our off-kilter world will spark your emotions while engaging your mind.
“The Rain in Portugal: Poems” by Billy Collins (Random House, division of Penguin Random House)
Dealing with ordinary life, death, and language, this collection is thoughtful, witty, and lyrical.
“Bastards of the Reagan Era” by Reginald Dwayne Betts. Four Way Books.
Drugs, violence and incarceration during a period of fear and chaos told in a brutal and haunting poetic voice.
“Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems” by Joy Harjo. W.W. Norton.
Folklore, history, personal journeys and modern times are entwined in this absorbing work by a Native American poet.
“The Blue Buick: New and Selected Poems” by B.H.Fairchild, W.W. Norton
A regional American experience through myth and memory.
“Gabriel: A Poem”, by Edward Hirsch, Knopf
A father’s lament.
“The Ogre’s Wife: Poems” by Ron Koertge (Red Hen)
Odd, eclectic and magical verse.
“Hum” by Jamaal May (Alice James)
Detroit cityscapes resonate with the pulse of machinery and silence
