Celebrate National Poetry Month with Our Favorite Poetry Books of 2021

by Cortney Lamar Charleston

Charleston explores masculinity, race, and community in this explosive and melodic collection.

by Nikki Moustaki

In this surreal and singular collection, Moustaki writes about terrorism, an aging dressmaker, and post-apocalyptic chickens with equal urgency and inspiration.

by Diane Seuss

In this modern beat poetry book, the sonnet form interrogates itself as part of a visceral and brilliant stream-of-consciousness narrative.

by Seema Yasmin

Doctor-poet Seema Yasmin crafts a provocative chorus of experiences and observations in the medical field while investigating an Ebola outbreak.

by Cheryl Boyce-Taylor

Writer and activist Boyce-Taylor spills her heartbreak, pain, celebration, and pride onto the page after the untimely death of her son Malik, known as Phife Dawg.

by Rebecca Frank Morgan

Oh You Robot Saints! investigates the deeply human need to make and unmake, to pit nature against time. This collection is an irreverent jaunt through churches, factories, and dressing rooms.

by Raymond Antrobus

A stunning examination of a d/Deaf experience alongside meditations on loss, grief, education, and language, both spoken and signed. With a global scope and a deep intimacy, Antrobus draws on family and historical figures to create a chorus of voices.

by Natalie Shapero

These poems are as witty as they are wise. Shapero dismantles the mundane violence of everyday life with aplomb. If you can't shake the absurdity of contemporary society, Popular Longing will feel like home.

by Urayoán Noel

Transversal is a playground of Spanish, English, and Spanglish. Urayoán Noel deftly switches language and form to examine the world after Hurricane María and during a global pandemic.

by Desiree C. Bailey

The ocean speaks in this spellbinding epic that reframes the hero not as the plunderer but the one who is stolen.