2023 Featured Fall Books List
Survivor’s Notebook by Dan O’Brien
Acre Books, September 2023
A powerful companion to 2021’s Our Cancers, this prose-poem sequence is truly a survivor’s notebook, using photos and the tools of memoir to evoke the ways in which disaster can constellate our past, present, and future.
Dual by Matthew Minicucci
Acre Books, October 2023
In his fourth poetry collection, Matthew Minicucci examines masculinity and gun violence as he brings to life the grammatical concept of the dual, a number that is neither singular nor plural.
Beautiful Sad Eyes, Weary Waiting for Love by r.h. Sin, Robert Drake
Andrews McMeel Publishing, October 2023
A two-book collection from best-selling powerhouse poets r.h. Sin and Robert M. Drake that explores the duality of the heart, which clings to darkness while fighting to feel the light.
Daughter: The Soul Journey of a Black Woman in America Having a Human Experience by Ebonee Davis
Andrews McMeel Publishing, October 2023
Ebonee Davis’s debut collection is a must-read for anyone having a uniquely human experience in an ever-devolving world. It is a powerful reminder that the journey to true freedom must always begin with the journey within.
Glass Hearts & Broken Promises by Kayla McCullough
Andrews McMeel Publishing, October 2023
An inspired debut from a talented new voice in poetry and prose, Kayla McCullough’s Glass Hearts & Broken Promises is the best friend you need when it’s time to pick up the broken pieces.
Rupi Kaur Trilogy Boxed Set by Rupi Kaur
Andrews McMeel Publishing, October 2023
A beautifully designed boxed set of the collections that solidified Rupi Kaur as the poetic voice of a generation: milk and honey, the sun and her flowers, and home body. A must-have for poetry fans.
Survival Takes a Wild Imagination by Fariha Róisín
Andrews McMeel Publishing, October 2023
Poet and activist Fariha Róisín writes, prays, claws, and scratches her way out of the grips of generational trauma on the search for the freedom her mother never received and the kindness she couldn’t give.
The Way Forward by Yung Pueblo
Andrews McMeel Publishing, October 2023
In this final installment of his poetic trilogy, #1 New York Times bestselling poet Yung Pueblo expands upon favorite themes while guiding readers further, toward a life lived authentically, intuitively, and in harmony with others.
Words of a Goat Princess by Jessie Reyez
Andrews McMeel Publishing, October 2023
A moving poetic debut from singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez, Words of a Goat Princess is everything you love about Jessie’s work—her rawness, her love affair with the ugly truths about humanity, and much more.
The Letters I Will Never Send by Isabella Dorta
Andrews McMeel Publishing, November 2023
TikTok poet Isabella Dorta urges you to leave nothing unsaid and to find comfort in more than one hundred moving poems on love, heartbreak, mental health, and self-discovery, written in the form of confessional letters.
Love & Misadventure, 10th anniversary ed. by Lang Leav
Andrews McMeel Publishing, November 2023
An elegant hardcover collector’s edition celebrating the tenth anniversary of Lang Leav’s best-selling Love & Misadventure. Features a special foreword by the author, highly personal annotations, newly colored artworks, and a ribbon marker.
People Not Things: Love Poems and Paintings for Humanity by Genesis Be
Andrews McMeel Publishing, November 2023
Poignant and moving, this honest debut collection of poetry and paintings from artist and activist Genesis Be bravely examines what it means to stay hopeful during the arduous journey to freedom.
Discordant by Richard Hamilton
Autumn House Press, September 2023
“Richard Hamilton’s Discordant is a searing examination of injustice, from criticisms of the U.S. military-industrial complex and its failing health care system to multilayered observations of marginalization through the lenses of race, class, gender, and sexuality.”
Rock Stars by Matt Mason
Button Poetry, September 2023
An ode and ovation to what our ears taught us before we knew what to say, Matt Mason’s Rock Stars riffs on music, poetry, and sports, taking us on the coming-of-age road trip of a lifetime.
The King of Terrors by Jim Johnstone
Coach House Books, September 2023
Written after a brain tumor diagnosis early in the pandemic, The King of Terrors is a meditation on living with illness and the forces required to heal.
Love Language by Nasser Hussain
Coach House Books, September 2023
In his follow-up to SKY WRI TEI NGS, Nasser Hussain tackles the absurdity of the English language through a modern take on love poems.
Quiet Armor by Stevie Edwards
Curbstone Books, October 2023
Quiet Armor, the third full-length collection from poet Stevie Edwards, examines how capitalism and patriarchy impact romantic relationships and, more broadly, intimacy, showing us not only desperate battles but also healing embraces.
Fixer by Edgar Kunz
Ecco, August 2023
From the award-winning author of Tap Out, Edgar Kunz’s sophomore poetry collection rolls up its sleeves to reckon with the legacies of labor and the question of worth in a system built on exploitation.
Dirt Songs by Kari Gunter-Seymour
Eastover Press, February 2023
Ohio Poet Laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour’s collection of poems, Dirt Songs, provides a uniquely intimate look at landscape and family generated from within Appalachia, recognizing that one story cannot accurately represent a region or its people.
In Gorgeous Display by Ugochukwu Damian Okpara
Fordham University Press, September 2023
A poignant exploration of queer identity, exile, and resilience and a tribute to victims of anti-queer violence, this collection unveils pain, hope, and the quest for self-reclamation amidst displacement. It is a journey through soulful poetic brilliance.
Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom Than Slavery by Pamela Sneed
Fordham University Press, September 2023
First published in 1998, Pamela Sneed’s provocative debut collection dives deep into enslavement, sexuality, and trauma. Drawing parallels to Harriet Tubman’s journey, these poems offer a powerful cry for freedom, love, and justice.
Papi Pichón by Dimitri Reyes
Get Fresh Publishing, July 2023
Dimitri Reyes’s first collection, Papi Pichón, is an ars poetica response to the Caribbean paradox wherein using words as categorically simple as “Puerto Rican,” in an attempt to identify the complex amalgamations of African, Indigenous, Spanish, and beyond, can only be described fully through myth. The cultural concepts that transcend history and lineage become mythology. Whether pigeon, child, abolitionist, artist, ghost, or thought, in one word, Papi Pichón is spirit—the guide that brings us all closer together.
Removal Acts by Erin Marie Lynch
Graywolf Press, October 2023
A remarkable debut exploring the silences left by displacement—of a people, of a lineage, and of the self.
“Critical, capacious, and ingenious turn after turn.” —Gabrielle Bates, author of Judas Goat
El Rey of Gold Teeth by Reyes Ramirez
Hub City Press, October 2023
El Rey of Gold Teeth explores living in the United States as a first-generation American of Salvadoran and Mexican descent. Reyes Ramirez’s debut poetry collection plays in spaces of both elegy and joy and introduces a vibrant new talent.
Migrations & Other Exiles by Letisia Cruz
Lost Horse Press, Spring 2023
In poetic language that is both sensuous and incisive, Migrations and Other Exiles questions the contradictory nature of human love. Precise and elegant, redemptive in its musicality and stunning imagery, it is a remarkable, stand-out collection.
Alabama by Rodney Jones
LSU Press, October 2023
At once a tale of cultural exile and familial loyalty, and an unflinching look at regional shame that doubles as a love story, all expressed with the intimate voice and vision of Rodney Jones.
A Scrap in the Blessings Jar by David Bottoms
LSU Press, August 2023
This collection of new and selected poems captures the evolution of David Bottoms’s spiritual quest to expose the extraordinary in the seemingly mundane while exploring the depths of our existential condition and common humanity.
Old Gods: Poems by Clifford Brooks
Mercer University Press, September 2023
Through the redemptive power of words, Clifford Brooks confronts personal battles of addiction, autism, heartbreak, otherness, anxiety, and escapism through journey poems. Bolstered by faith, family, friends, and vocation, the poet’s telling is ordered and meticulous.
Bloodroot: Poems by Bill King
Mercer University Press, October 2023
In his first full-length collection, Bill King articulates a life grounded in the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains. By turns, his poems offer a language for how to love a world we must, ultimately, leave.
Happy Neighborhood: Essays and Poems by Thomas Hallock
Mercer University Press, October 2023
These thoughtful, carefully crafted meditations seek to define happiness at home. Although seemingly content, based on the title, the author of this collection candidly confronts the challenges he has faced as a father, spouse, and son.
Where Here Is Hard to Say: Poems by Gordon Johnston
Mercer University Press, October 2023
These poems engage with the losses and renewals of life—confronting the mortality of friends and parents, raising children, wrestling with depression, and trying to find stable footing in midlife as the ecstatic alternates with the awful.
I Love Information: Poems by Courtney Bush
Milkweed Press, September 2023
“Winner of the National Poetry Series, Courtney Bush renders the bent and bendable logics of friendship, work, art, and love with startling wit. This is an amazing book.” —Anselm Berrigan
Time Without Keys by Ida Vitale translated by Sarah Pollack
New Directions, September 2023
A landmark collection by one of Latin America’s most important living writers, Time Without Keys, translated by Sarah Pollack, is the first volume of Vitale’s illustrious poetry to appear in the U.S.—and just in time for her hundredth birthday.
Sex Depression Animals by Mag Gabbert
The Ohio State University Press, March 2023
In Sex Depression Animals, Mag Gabbert redefines the bestiary in fiery, insistent, and resistant terms. These poems recast the traumas of her adolescence while charting new paths toward linguistic and bodily autonomy as an adult.
Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the United States edited by Luisa A. Igloria and Aileen Cassinetto
Paloma Press, September 2023
Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the United States is offered as a companion to the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5), and an additional opportunity to participate in urgent conversations about environmental justice.
Master by Simon Shieh
Sarabande Books, September 2023
Selected by Terrance Hayes as the winner of the 2022 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry, Master is a stark, surreal, and imagistic reckoning with a traumatic past.
Poems for the Lord by Tony DeStefano
Self-published, June 2023
Tony DeStefano was first and foremost a songwriter. In order to write better songs he studied poetic technique. And so he fell in love with poetry. This chapbook consists of eighteen poems dedicated to his faith.
Leaning Toward Light edited by Tess Taylor
Storey Publishing, August 2023
This beautiful poetry anthology offers a warm, inviting selection of poems from a wide range of voices that speak to the collective urge to grow, tend, and heal—an evocative celebration of our connection to the green world.
The Wonder of Small Things by James Crews
Storey Publishing, September 2023
The editor of the best-selling poetry anthologies How to Love the World and The Path to Kindness presents a collection of highly accessible, uplifting poetry celebrating the small wonders and peaceful moments of everyday life.
some blue, a little spur by Kris Falcon
UnCollected Press, June 2023
In floating night rooms, in untethered cities, Kris Falcon's poems construct, line by line, an architecture of subjective states of singularly detailed, melancholy beauty.
— Amy England, author of Rooms Colors Dreams
Yaguareté White by Diego Báez
University of Arizona Press, February 2024
Yaguareté White is a lyrical exploration of Paraguayan whiteness, or white Latinidad, and what it means to see through a “colored” whiteness, with all of its tangled contradictions.
Black Pastoral: Poems by Ariana Benson
University of Georgia Press, September 2023
Cave Canem Poetry Prize-winner, Black Pastoral illustrates the beauty inherent to Blackness, to nature, and to the remarkable relationship they share. Ariana Benson meditates upon the violence and tenderness that simultaneously characterize this entangling.
Survival Strategies: Poems by Tennison S. Black
University of Georgia Press, September 2023
National Poetry Prize-winner Tennison S. Black’s fierce poems shape a language perfectly attuned to the mothering silences of the desert. With each poem, experience—whether tender or catastrophic—is birthed into new competence and clarity.
Eclipse of the Sun by Red Shuttleworth
University of Nevada Press, August 2023
In this striking poetry collection, Red Shuttleworth, who holds the record as the oldest active boxer, professional or amateur, offers evocative imagery that unapologetically reveals the life of a boxer.
Wrack Line by M. W. Jaeggle
University of Regina Press, September 2023
Like the coastal zone where high tides deposit debris, Wrack Line traces loss, guilt, and subsequent loneliness while exploring the regenerative possibilities of language, memory, and land.
Selected Poems by Thomas Hardy edited by David Bromwich
Yale University Press, September 2023
A generous selection of poems by a major Victorian writer, Thomas Hardy, a virtuoso of traditional forms who came to be recognized as a uniquely inventive and original voice in modern poetry.
How Fire Descends: New and Selected Poems by Serhiy Zhadan translated by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps
Yale University Press, October 2023
Forged entirely in wartime, the newest collection of poetry from writer-activist Serhiy Zhadan is an homage to the Ukrainian people and a searing testament to poetry’s power to define and defy injustice.