New York, NY (October 7, 2021)— The Academy of American Poets is honored to announce that Poem-a-Day, the organization’s daily digital poetry series featuring previously unpublished work by today’s poets, is the number one source of selected work for the 2021 edition of Best American Poetry (Simon & Schuster, 2021). This is the second time it has been the top source of poems for the anthology; the first time was in 2019. Poem-a-Day features new poems by more than 250 living poets each year and is now distributed to 300,000+ subscribers who receive the email version of the series. It reaches an additional audience of 500,000+ daily through Poets.org and social media. Because of its unique reach, Poem-a-Day is one of the largest platforms in the United States for a poet to share new work and promote their books. 

Congratulations to the following poets whose work was selected from Poem-a-Day and the Academy of American Poets by former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith to be featured in the 2021 edition of the Best American Poetry anthology, and to the guest editors who help make the Poem-a-Day program possible: 

"Some Call It God" by Jabari Asim 

"lake loop" by Natalie Diaz 

"a brief meditation on breath" by Yesenia Montilla 

"When White Hawks Come" by dg nanouk okpik 

"For Black Children at the End of the World—and the Beginning" by Roger Reeves 

"women’s voting rights at one hundred (but who’s counting?)" by Evie Shockley 

"Ode to the Boy Who Jumped Me" by Monica Sok 

"Red Wine Spills" by  L. Ash Williams 

To read the eight selected poems, visit: https://poets.org/anthology/best-american-poetry-poem-day-2021

To sign up for Poem-a-Day and receive a free daily poem in your inbox each morning, visit: poets.org/poem-a-day

About Poem-a-Day

Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today's talented poets each year. Launched in 2006 by the Academy of American Poets, Poem-a-Day is distributed via email, web, and social media to an audience of 800,000+ free of charge. The series highlights classic poems on weekends, and weekday poems are accompanied by exclusive commentary and audio by the poets. The series' weekdays are curated by twelve poets (one poet for each month of the year) from across the country who have wide-ranging expertise and editorial perspectives.

About the Academy of American Poets 

Founded in 1934, the Academy of American Poets is the nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry with supporters in all fifty states. The organization annually awards more funds to individual poets than any other organization through its prize program, giving a total of $1.25 million to more than 200 poets at various stages of their careers. The organization also produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; organizes National Poetry Month; publishes the popular Poem-a-Day series and American Poets magazine; provides award-winning resources to K–12 educators, including the Teach This Poem series; hosts an annual series of poetry readings and special events; and coordinates a national Poetry Coalition working together to promote the value poets bring to our culture.