April is National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world.
Every year, tens of millions of readers, students, teachers, librarians, booksellers, publishers, bloggers, and poets mark poetry’s important place in our culture and our lives throughout the month of April.
Here at NCW Libraries, our staff have curated a list of books and poetry collections that celebrate the joy, expressiveness and delight of poetry.
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.
This is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets, edited by Kwame Alexander
In this comprehensive and vibrant poetry anthology, bestselling author and poet Kwame Alexander curates a collection of contemporary anthems that are tender, piercing and deeply inspiring throughout. Featuring work from well-loved poets such as Rita Dove, Jericho Brown, Warsan Shire, Ross Gay, Tracy K. Smith, Terrance Hayes, Morgan Parker, and Nikki Giovanni, this collection is a rich and abundant offering of language from the poets giving voice to generations of resilient joy.
Rumi: poet of joy and love by Rashin Kheiriyeh
The Persian mystic and poet Rumi is one of the best known and most widely read poets in the world. Award-winning Iranian-American illustrator Rashin Kheiriyeh brings this narrative nonfiction picture book to celebrate the life and works of Rumi on the 750th anniversary of his death this year.
Poetry Comics by Grant Snyder
From the cloud-gazing hours of early spring to the lost bicycles of late autumn, Grant Snider’s brilliantly illustrated Poetry Comics will take you climbing, floating, swimming, and tumbling through all the year’s ups, downs, and in-betweens. He proves that absolutely everything, momentous or minuscule, is worthy of attention, whether snail shells, building blocks, the lamented late bus, or the rare joy of unscuffed shoes. These poems explore everything you never thought to write a poem about.
Great Gusts: winds of the world and the science behind them by Melanie Crowder
In this dynamic collection of poems, explore the world’s winds, from Italy’s swaggering maestro to Libya’s fierce ghibli to Canada’s howling sqaumish. Sidebars relay the science behind each wind and weather system, while the airy art of award-winning illustrator Khoa Le provides a visual gust.
The Hurting Kind: Poems by Ada Limón
A collection of poems by an award-winning poet and former U.S. Poet Laureate about connections. The poems are organized into sections corresponding with the four seasons. Some were written in isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic and sent as “gifts” to people she could not visit in person.
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