April Staff Picks
Poetry Month is finally upon us! To celebrate, this month’s staff picks are all books written by poets–there are poetry collections, nonfiction titles, and a few surprises thrown in for good measure. You can find all our past staff picks here.
Kaveh Akbar's debut poetry collection is in equal parts raw and delicate; his precise imagery and goldspun language creates pure, brutal emotion that had me transfixed and aching through every piece, every line. Addiction, longing, loneliness, God and the lack thereof: Akbar shies from none of it, and names it for what it is. The titular poem is my favorite, but every single one is a gem. A taste:
I’ve given this coldness many names thinking if it had a name it would have a solution thinking if I called a wolf a wolf I might dull its fangs
& his sophomore collection, Pilgrim Bell, comes out in August! —Abby
“This is my life now / Utterly jagged by magic / Insert lyricism later”
A large portion of this collection are melancholic poems set on the banks of the Gowanus Canal, Nelson is able to turn the polluted waterway into something beautiful—poems of heartbreak, loneliness, loss, and desire. —Anthony
Fifteen year old Eun Ji’s world is turned upside down when her parents leave her and her brother to live in California while they return to Korea for work. Her mother begins writing letters in Korean, which Eun Ji only really begins to understand years later as she translates them in an attempt to better know her mother, her family, and why her parents decided to leave their children on the opposite side of the world. This is a powerful story of familial love, heartache, and forgiveness, that acknowledges how feeble language can be when trying to articulate the depths of our emotions, yet blooms in the understanding that we try anyway. —Colleen
“How often I long to lift/ my words high. How/ often nothing is raised/ and nothing brightens,”
Boland's statement is belied by this beautiful collection, her last. She died last April after a career spent illuminating the often silent lives of women. If you're familiar with her work, this is a fitting capstone. If not, a perfect introduction. —Eddie
This book is a powerful examination of motherhood, race, and violence in America. Tina Chang is one of my favorite contemporary poets, and in this book, she uses a virtuosic range of forms to get inside how it feels to be the mother of Black children in this country, and the poems are full of love, anger, and vulnerability. A beautiful collection. —Emma
Langston Hughes is one of my favorite American poets, so I'm super thrilled children can appreciate his words too (with the bonus of stunning illustrations). —Jacque
Earth Keeper is half love letter to the land, half notes of mourning regarding human treatment of the earth. Interspersed between these are teachings from Dragonfly, a holy man, which celebrate the oral stories and traditions of the Kiowa culture. The combined result is a beautifully sincere collection about how humans interact with the land–how some cherish it while others abuse and steal it. —Lindsay
In this unique anthology, a comic artist translates the verbal beauty of classic poems into comic form, using varied styles to portray the different tones that each poem evokes. The illustrations range from cartoonish to moody to practically shimmering with vibrance — and there’s even one drawn in the style of manga. A fascinating exercise in the relationship between the written word and visual expression. —Michael Chin
I give this book to everyone I love! Don't be deterred by a novel in verse, you can read this sweet book in one sitting. Anne Carson rules and this book is so magical and lovely! —Natalie
If you’ve never read Arabic poetry before, this anthology is a great place to start. Gorgeously evocative and precise, the poems anthologized in Home evoke intimate portraits of ordinary encounters and scenes. This book manages to do one of my favorite things, which is to transform the everyday into something profound by peeling away some of the boundaries you didn’t even know were there. —Nika
This is the perfect book for this new season! For when you’re in a reading rut! For when you just want to feel GOOD (but not necessarily disengaged)! That’s what I love about this sweet lil collection of short lyric “essayettes,” by critically-acclaimed poet, gardener, and (de)light within his own right, Ross Gay. As Gay documents his daily delights, he awakens us to our own surrounding, and inner, abundance, without sacrificing any of life’s complexities. Fulfilling and thought-provoking, uplifting and illuminating—I simply can’t imagine anyone not enjoying this book! —Serena
Rumi is one of the best selling poets in America but his culture and religious beliefs have often been erased by the white scholars who "translated" his work. As a result, much of what is touted as Rumi's poetry are just chains of pretty words that lack the depth and beauty of the original. The Masnavi rectifies this by giving us a comprehensive translation that is true to the spirit of the original, with footnotes to guide the reader into a better understanding of the context that Rumi was writing in. Decolonize your bookshelf and read some of the greatest poetry ever written. —Shulokhana
We choose new staff picks every month, so stay tuned for regular updates.
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