Our Favorite Poetry Books of 2024, So Far...
National Poetry Month, a celebration of poetry held each April, was introduced in 1996 and organized by the Academy of American Poets to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States. At NYPL, our Poetry Committee reads as much new work as they can get their hands on. Here are 15 titles published in 2024 (so far) that they want you to know about. There is something for every reader here, so whether you are a seasoned poetry reader, or you have never read a collection in your life, this list has something for you here to celebrate Poetry Month. (These books are so new, many have yet to make it to our shelves, but you can place a request with your library card and be among the first readers or, many are already available to read through our SimplyE app.)
After
by Geoffrey Brock
Geoffrey Brock's After is a triptych on grief, awe, and poetic legacy following the recent death of his father, himself a poet. His formal linguistic mastery is paralleled with a clarity that expresses an emotional nuance in the face of mortality and environmental engagement.
The Bearable Slant of Light
by Lynnell Edwards
Narrative poetry intermingles with medical documentation in this notable collection by Lynnell Edwards. Addressing her son's mental illness through the lens of a caretaker, the book is a sensitive personal testament to artistic and familial ties.
Black Bell
by Alison C. Rollins
Rollins's latest work is an Afrofuturistic mega text with diagrams, time-traveling directives, historical redress, and performance instruction. Moving beyond line and stanza, Black Bell enlists collage, imagery, and ephemera to activate the nation's archive.
Children in Tactical Gear
by Peter Mishler
Mishler is an "erstwhile prophet" with a "tiny hammer" in this collection: A rage against American consumerism delivered from the island of broken toys. These poems live within a desolate landscape of unrecyclable "things," and are satirical, witty, and unpredictable in their strangeness.
Ghost Man on Second
by Erica Reid
Writing from a world where "nothing goes at my pace," Reid offers this debut collection that contemplates how to live within the nostalgia of an absent father and a distant mother and where to land in an isolated—though contemplatively inviting— the natural world.
Listen to the Golden Boomerang Return
by CAConrad
Acclaimed poet CAConrad's latest collection of "(soma)tic rituals" is unrepentantly fresh, bold, and exciting. Exploring a range of deeply felt relationships, Conrad's work is a brilliant meditation on human (and nonhuman) connection and survival in the face of catastrophe.
Modern Poetry
by Diane Seuss
The inimitable Diane Seuss returns with poems on love, aging, and, above all, Poetry: its place in our lives and histories and what it can do for its readers. Seuss delivers a study of the genre in her signature voice of seemingly-matter-of-fact deadpan humor through visceral truthing in the wake of everyday life.
The Moon That Turns You Back
by Hala Alyan
A collection that speaks to Alyan's experience as a Palestinian American traveling the diaspora carrying memories of loved ones and homes lost to displacement. In consistently compelling, lyrical, and documentative poetry, Alyan's latest book seamlessly blends the political with the personal.
Nowhere Was a Lake
by Margaret Draft
In a voice deceptively pragmatic, Draft writes poetry set within pastures, dive bars, abandoned bars, bedrooms, and the headlines of missing persons. These pared, often devastating works contemplate emotional coexistence in a quiet, observant way.
The Palace of the Forty Pillars
by Armen Davoudian
A compact, beautiful tragedy, Davoudian craftfully wrestles with concepts of homeland and exile in this collection of tender disavowal and reclamation.
Santa Tarantula
by Jordan Perez
Perez addresses the multigenerational legacies of trauma by lending a poet's voice to the historically silenced. Contemplative, observant, and melodic, this impressive debut is affirmative and generous.
A Shape We've Yet to Name
by Mya Matteo Alexice
An ode to self and community, Alexice's debut collection reads as if written from their soul. These poems are formally creative and brightly contemporary, inviting the reader into the poet's mind.
Spectral Evidence
by Gregory Pardlo
With subject matter ranging from the MOVE organization to Tituba, Spectral Evidence nods to both historical and classical genre references to consider Blackness in provocative poems that challenge its audience to read beyond what is on its pages.
The Trouble with Light
by Jeremy Michael Clark
Self-reflective and structurally diverse, Clark uses clever internal rhyming and panoramic imagery to explore family and addiction in this gorgeous debut.
With My Back to the World
by Victoria Chang
Chang's latest poems are in conversation with the art of Agnes Martin. Exploring art, grief, feminism, and aging, this collection is emotionally and intellectually incisive and will engage readers both familiar and unfamiliar with Martin's abstractions.
