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Poetry: Books

This is a general guide designed to help students get started reading poetry, aid them in beginning their research, and assist them in conducting a Close Reading.

Finding Books

New Books

Olio by Tyehimba Jess

Part fact, part fiction, Olio weaves sonnet, song, and narrative to examine the lives of mostly unrecorded African American performers directly before and after the Civil War up to World War I.

This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets

A breathtaking poetry collection on hope, heart, and heritage from the most prominent and promising Black poets and writers of our time, edited by bestselling author Kwame Alexander.

Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

A haunting debut that is simultaneously dreamlike and visceral, vulnerable and redemptive, and risks the painful rewards of emotional honesty.

African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song

A literary landmark- the biggest, most ambitious anthology of Black poetry ever published, gathering 250 poets from the colonial period to the present.

Book Recommendations