POETRY / General

An exposed and exposing collection of poetry on inherited trauma, chronic illness, and the American South

Quinn Carver Johnson’s debut collection, The Perfect Bastard, follows its titular protagonist, a nonbinary and queer professional wrestler, as they try to balance staying true to their identity and achieving their dream.

In her third poetry collection, Loner Forensics, Thea Brown dreams up and dissects a city beset by unexplained disappearances, roving silences, and climate collapse.

The latest collection from award-winning poet Vievee Francis, The Shared World imagines motherhood—with and without children—and the common space between families, lovers, and strangers.

Patricia Smith's unrivaled dexterity with dramatic monologue and poetic form reanimates these countenances, staring back from such yesterdays, and the stories they may have told. This is one of American literature’s finest wordsmiths doing what she does best—unreeling history to find its fierce and formidable lyric.
 

The Way of the Earth is the fourth collection from award-winning poet Matthew Shenoda. In this, his most personal collection to date, he explores the temporal and fleeting nature of both human life and the earth we inhabit.

In Colonies of Paradise, acclaimed poet and translator Mary Jo Bang introduces the poems of contemporary German novelist, poet, and translator Matthias Göritz.

The poems in Blessed Are the Peacemakers ask what it means to make peace and examine the lengths and limitations of grace.

Jacqueline Jones LaMon's stunning third collection shows the elements of life that unite us—and that separate us most profoundly. What Water Knows transports the reader from drought to drowning, from the transatlantic Middle Passage to the breaking of water.

This is a collection of Chicago poems by Marc Kelly Smith, the creator and founder of the slam poetry movement.