20 titles to guide you through National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month. And, as we celebrate an art form which gives shape and language to our experience of the world, it s worth noting that many readers still struggle to find the door, the access point to poetry.
With this in mind, accept these 20 titles most of them quite recent as a peace offering and a starting point. Not all will resonate with every reader; but there should be something here for each mood and manner of engaging.
Poems of devotion
Jericho Brown, The New Testament (2014) Following in the footsteps of James Baldwin and others, Brown s blend spiritual and sexual desire, eros and agape, until the lines are practically imperceptible. Brown s 2019 title, The Tradition, earned him a Pulitzer Prize, but don t overlook the power of this earlier work. Brown will appear in conversation with Tracy K. Smith April 23 as the culminating event of this year s Unbound Book Festival.