In honor of National Poetry Month, celebrated every April, we’re sharing a roundup of poetry collections that have been published within the last year. Featuring Chicago’s Phoenix Poets Series as well as books from our distributed client presses, these books touch on subjects like race, identity, and queerness, national borders and the limits of language, the beauty of nature, and the challenges of illness and caretaking. You’ll find moving collections from up-and-coming poets at Acre Books, Autumn House, CavanKerry Press, Omnidawn, and Seagull Books—and new to us this year, Tupelo Press.
Not sure where to get started? We’ve put together some thematic highlights in this post, showcasing books that touch on some key topics. Shop our collection of new poetry books on Bookshop, or order directly from our website using the promo code POETRYMONTH to take 40% off all month long.
Books on Nature
These evocative books explore experiences with nature, from the climate crisis to deeply personal connections and disconnections to landscapes of southern Appalachia and the American West.
The Upstate by Lindsay Turner
In a Cabin, in the Woods by Michael Krüger
Beachlight by Cyril Wong
THINE by Kate Partridge
as mornings and mossgreen I. Step to the window by Friederike Mayrocker
Books on Queerness
Both tender and illuminating, the poems in these collections turn their gaze toward the natural world, explore complicated rural relationships to queerness, and celebrate the warmth that humanity is capable of.
You Bury the Birds in My Pelvis by Kelly Weber
Taking to Water by Jennifer Conlon
Nest of Matches by Amie Whittemore
The Curve of Things by Kathy Kremins
Country Songs for Alice by Emma Binder
Books on Race and Identity
Highlighting collections that deal with race and identity in a variety of ways, from deep history to Black joy to an exploration of Mexican and American culture.
Negro Mountain by C. S. Giscombe
Tell it Slant by John Yau
Looking and Seeing/Seeing and Looking by Damon Potter
Seraphim by Angelique Zobitz
Bad Mexican, Bad American by Jose Hernandez Diaz
Books on Borders
Thes books investigate and challenge borders of all kinds, from linguistic and technological structures, the limits of the body, and diasporic literatures.
Mandible Wishbone Solvent by Asiya Wadud
PORTAL by Tracy Fuad
Asterism by Ae Hee Lee
The Wandering Life: Followed by “Another Era of Writing” by Yves Bonnefoy
Psyche Running by Durs Grünbein
Books on Illness and Caretaking
Rich in empathy, patience, and insight, these collections give us new ways of speaking about grief, illness, and the act of caretaking.
Survivor’s Notebook by Dan O’Brien
Limited Editions by Carol Stone
absolute animal by Rachel DeWoskin
Murmur by Cameron Barnett
Vexations by Annelyse Gelman
These titles are available now from our website or from Bookshop. Happy National Poetry Month!