Reading Challenge
A book of poetry or novel-in-verse

Above Ground by Clint Smith
Above ground : poems
by Clint Smith

Clint Smith's vibrant and compelling collection traverses the vast emotional terrain of fatherhood, and explores how becoming a parent has recalibrated his sense of the world. Smith's lyrical, narrative poems bring the reader on a journey not only through the early years of his children's lives, but through the changing world in which they are growing up--through the changing world of which we are all a part.
Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman
Call us what we carry : poems
by Amanda Gorman

The presidential inaugural poet--and unforgettable new voice in American poetry--presents a collection of poems that includes the stirring poem read at the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States.
Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
Time is a mother
by Ocean Vuong

Ocean Vuong's collection of poetry looks inward, on the aftershocks of his mother's death, and the struggle--and rewards--of staying present in the world. The volume moves outward and onward, in concert with the themes of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, as Vuong continues, through his work, his exploration of personal trauma, of what it means to be the product of an American war in America, and how to circle these fragmented tragedies to find not a restoration, but the epicenter of the break.
Night Owl: Poems by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Night owl : poems
by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Aimee Nezhukumatathil's fifth collection of poetry explores love, nature, and the transformative powers of the night. In her latest poetry collection, Aimee Nezhukumatathil plumbs the depths of nighttime, crafting a series of nocturnes that explore the magic, sensuality, and life that emerge as the rest of the world goes to bed. Nezhukumatathil provides a singular contribution to writing on the natural world, calling on our sense of love--even in the face of increasing violence to one another and the environment--by focusing on the revolutionary impact of the dark.
Blade by Blade by Danusha Laméris
Blade by blade
by Danusha Laméris

Blade by Blade is an unflinching field journal of grief, loss, and discovery set against the California wilderness. Microscopic and tidal, earthquake and fire-prone, Blade by Blade thrives in the underbrush of human emotion. These poems are luminous missives tossed on the wind asking us to re-enter the world we've forsaken, to set foot, as if for the first time, on the green earth and begin again.
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay
Catalog of unabashed gratitude
by Ross Gay

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude is a sustained meditation on that which goes away--loved ones, the seasons, the earth as we know it--that tries to find solace in the processes of the garden and the orchard. That is, this is a book that studies the wisdom of the garden and orchard, those places where all--death, sorrow, loss--is converted into what might, with patience, nourish us.
Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 by Lucille Clifton
Blessing the boats : new and selected poems, 1988-2000
by Lucille Clifton

A collection by one of the most distinguished poets working in America, this volume collects Clifton's most distinct work from 1988 to 2000.
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver
Devotions : the selected poems of Mary Oliver
by Mary Oliver

Throughout her career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things Here is a definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years.
The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes
The collected poems of Langston Hughes
by Langston Hughes

A complete anthology of the poetry of Langston Hughes presents 860 poems that capture the rhythms, emotions, cultural significance, and political awareness of African-American life, from his earliest works to his final collection.
Night Watch: Poems by Kevin Young
Night watch :poems
by Kevin Young

From the award-winning poet at the height of his career, a book of personal and American experiences, both beautiful and troubling, touching on the generative cycle of loss and renewal. Following on his exquisite Stones, Kevin Young's new collection, written over the span of sixteen years, shapes stories of loss and legacy, inspired in part by other lives. Evoking the history of poetry, from the darkling thrush to the darkling plain, Young is defiant and playful on the way through purgatory to a kind of paradise.
Lord of the Butterflies by Andrea Gibson
Lord of the butterflies : poems
by Andrea Gibson

With artful and nuanced looks at gender, romance, loss, and family, Lord of the Butterflies is a peak in Gibson's career. Each emotion here is deft and delicate, resting inside of imagery heavy enough to sink the heart, while giving the body wings to soar.
Startlement: New and Selected Poems by Ada Limón
Startlement : new and selected poems
by Ada Limón

Drawing from six previously published books, as well as vibrant new work, Startlement exalts the mysterious. Limón wades into potent unknowns--the strangeness of our brief human lives, the ever-changing nature of the universe and new revelations about our place in the world.
You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World by Ada Limón
You are here : poetry in the natural world
edited by Ada Limón

Published in association with the Library of Congress and edited by the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States, a singular collection of fifty poems reflecting on our relationship to the natural world by our most celebrated writers.
Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens & the Hands That Tend Them by Tess Taylor
Leaning toward light : poems for gardens & the hands that tend them
by Tess Taylor

In this poetry anthology, Leaning Toward Light, acclaimed poet and avid gardener Tess Taylor brings together a diverse range of contemporary voices to offer poems that celebrate that joyful connection to the natural world.
Life on Earth: Poems by Dorianne Laux
Life on Earth : poems
by Dorianne Laux

Pulitzer Prize finalist Dorianne Laux returns with an insightful, compassionate, and spirited volume that celebrates the imperfect miracle of humanity. In her seventh collection, Dorianne Laux once again offers poems that move us, include us, and appreciate us fully as the flawed humans we are. Life on Earth is a book of praise for our planet and ourselves, delivered with Laux's trademark vitality, frank observation, and earthy wisdom.
How about Now: Poems by Kate Baer
How about now : poems
by Kate Baer

Renowned poet Kate Baer returns with a bold and compassionate collection that confronts the march of time in a shifting world. With her trademark candor and curiosity, Baer explores what it means to grow older, to release children into the wildness of their own lives, and to reclaim the ever-evolving self. Raw, luminous, and urgent, this collection channels Baer's own journey to middle age into poems that are profoundly intimate yet resound universally, identifying the beauty, resilience, and fragility that arrive in every stage of life.
Don't Call Us Dead: Poems by Danez Smith
Don't call us dead : poems
by Danez Smith

Don't Call Us Dead opens with a heartrending sequence that imagines an afterlife for black men shot by police, a place where suspicion, violence, and grief are forgotten and replaced with the safety, love, and longevity they deserved here on earth. Smith turns then to desire, mortality--the dangers experienced in skin and body and blood--and a diagnosis of HIV positive. Some of us are killed / in pieces, Smith writes, some of us all at once. Don't Call Us Dead is an astonishing and ambitious collection, one that confronts, praises, and rebukes America--Dear White America--where every day is too often a funeral and not often enough a miracle.
Letters of the Alphabet Go to War by Lesyk Panasiuk
Letters of the alphabet go to war
by Lesyk Panasiuk

A bilingual poetry collection translated from the Ukrainian by Ilya Kaminsky and Katie Farris, Letters of the Alphabet Go to War is Lesyk Panasiuk's remarkable account of living in Bucha, Ukraine, during the apex of war and brutality at the hands of the Russian military.
Homeland of My Body: New and Selected Poems by Richard Blanco
Homeland of my body : new and selected poems
by Richard Blanco

A rich, accomplished, intensely intimate collection with two full sections of new poems bookending Blanco's selections from his five previous volumes.
An American Sunrise: Poems by Joy Harjo
An American sunrise : poems
by Joy Harjo

A nationally best-selling volume of wise, powerful poetry from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States.  Joy Harjo finds blessings in the abundance of her homeland and confronts the site where the Mvskoke people, including her own ancestors, were forcibly displaced. From her memory of her mother's death, to her beginnings in the Native rights movement, to the fresh road with her beloved, Harjo's personal life intertwines with tribal histories to create a space for renewed beginnings.
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen
When I grow up I want to be a list of further possibilities
by Chen Chen

In this ferocious and tender debut, Chen Chen investigates inherited forms of love and family -- the strained relationship between a mother and son, the cost of necessary goodbyes -- all from Asian American, immigrant, and queer perspectives. Holding all accountable, this collection fully embraces the loss, grief, and abundant joy that come with charting one's own path in identity, life, and love.
Transfer by Naomi Shihab Nye
Transfer : poems
by Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi Shihab Nye has spent thirty-five years traveling the world to lead writing workshops and inspire students of all ages. In her collection Transfer, she draws on her Palestinian American heritage, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas, and her extensive travel experiences to create a poetry collection that attests to our shared humanity.
The Space Between Our Footsteps by null
The space between our footsteps
selected by Naomi Shihab Nye

In an unparalleled collection, honored anthologist Naomi Shihab Nye brings together the work of over 120 poets and artists from nineteen countries in the Middle East. In turn compelling, lyrical, tragic, and humorous, this rich anthology opens the door to the Middle East and beckons readers to explore our common ground. The poets and artists collected in this volume range from luminaries such as Adonis, Yehuda Amichai, Chaibia Tallal, Nazim Hikmet, and Naguib Mahfouz to those whose work has never been published before.
The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur
The sun and her flowers
by Rupi Kaur

A transcendent journey about growth and healing, ancestry and honoring one's roots and expatriation, and rising up to find a home within yourself.