Happy National Poetry Month!

April is National Poetry Month! What are you reading? If you’re looking for ideas, here are some excellent poetry collections to get you started!

Citronella by Loch Baillie

Reviewed by Nicholas Selig, 2024

Part of Citronella’s success is in how it gently intertwines smell, memory, summer and queer love in a hot, languid haze punctuated by deeply intimate musings.

You Won’t Always Be This Sad by Sheree Fitch

Reviewed by Emma Rhodes, 2020

When I say I sobbed I mean I sobbed. But while Fitch breaks your heart she shows you how to mend it again, how she mended it.

The Gardener by Carrie Stanton

reviewed by Melanie Métivier, 2021

The Gardener by Carrie Stanton is a whimsical tale packed full of excitement. Written in a fun, rhyming style, readers are taken on an amusing and imaginative adventure.

Love is a Place but you Cannot Live There by Jade Wallace

Reviewed by Zoe Shaw, 2023

For lovers of haunted houses, softness, creatures, and intertexts (and haters of big cities), Love Is A Place provides sanctuary and pleasure in its pages. 

Beholden: A Poem as Long as the River by Rita Wong and Fred Wah

Reviewed by Cynthia Sharp, 2022

The strength of Beholden is deeper than its technical craft — it’s honesty, letting go of preconceived ideas or assumptions, and approaching the river with humility.

Orange Kitty and the Mouse Parade by E.M Gales

Reviewed by Sue Slade, 2024

A yellow background with an orange kitty in the center of the image. The orange kitty looks up at a cupcake on its head. The title is in orange letters and curves above the kitty's head.

Fans of Dr. Seuss will fall instantly in love with Orange Kitty and the Mouse Parade written and illustrated by E.M Gales. Written in verse it is an adjective-rich and fun read-aloud counting book.

The All + Flesh by Brandi Bird

Reviewed by Peter Midgley, 2023

I was struck throughout by how much hope there is in Bird’s writing, and by the gorgeous and subtle ways in which they cycle back to the central ideas that bind the collection together … This is an invigorating, liberating read.

Archipelago by Laila Malik

Reviewed by Bryn Robinson, 2023

Malik weaves careful tapestries in mainly English, but also threads of Arabic and Urdu …[It’s a] necessity to read Malik’s work.