Anticipated Poetry Reads of 2021

Hello Poetteers, 

I'm here again to compile the upcoming poetry book releases of 2021.

 

January

I Must Belong Somewhere By Dawn Lanuza 

Written during her year of rest and travel, this new collection speaks to the indescribable feelings of displacement and longing for the companionship she left behind.

If I Tell The Truth by Jasmin Kaur

Told in prose, poetry, and illustration, this heartrending story talks about living undocumented and the constant anxiety over safety.

Poems for the Dawn by Jen Rogue

In her Letters for the Universe Goodreads Choice Nominated poet J.R. Rogue shares intimate poems written lovingly for her readers. Take a journey through the eyes of author and reader as Rogue shares a glimpse into the private task of writing poetry dedicated to readers worldwide.

Shine Your Icy Crown by Amanda Lovelace

This is a story about not letting society dictate the limits of your potential. it’s time to take back your power & realize that you don’t need a king in order to be a queen.

February

Where Hope Comes From by Nikita Gill

poet Nikita Gill returns to her roots with her most personal collection yet. sharing a number of poems that she wrote when the world went into lockdown, as well as her poems of strength and hope.

The Grief We’re Given by William Bortz 

How are we to learn to grieve when it feels unrelenting? How are we to adore and memorialize small moments of appreciation? How are we to shape our grief into something worth celebrating, and begin to understand the grief we give?

March

It Was Never Going to Be Okay, by Jaye Simpson

it was never going to be okay is a collection of poetry and prose exploring the intimacies of understanding intergenerational trauma, Indigeneity and queerness.

I am tired of being a dandelion by Zane Fredrick

Life presents a multitude of moments we hope work in our favor. One moment has us building a fortress of daydreams and anticipation, and the next it may come crumbling down. Yet, no matter how many times our hopes fall, we seem to be able to rebuild them again.

How Far You Have Come by Morgan Harper Nichols

In the midst of the hurt and the mundane, the questions and the not yets, we can forget just how far we have come. Morgan weaves together personal reflections with her signature poems to share her journey to reclaim moments of brokenness, division, and pain and re-envision them as experiences of reconciliation, unity, and hope.

All the Places I Wish I Died by Crystal Stone

Between the Midwest & the delta. On the bank of the shore & the ice of the lake. Between love & nostalgia. Beside the toad & the squirrel. Between loss. Next to a stranger. In the scent of grapefruit vodka seltzer. Between the sunrise & high noon. In the shape of the bed in the shape of my former body. By the edge. All the places I wish I died.

April

Sometimes I fall asleep thinking about you by Catarine Hancock 

a collection of poetry on the feeling of never getting closure, that lingering longing you still get even when you know you shouldn’t, and how it feels to finally be able to say, “I have finally let you go,” after years of struggling to find the words.

The Wild Fox of Yemen, by Threa Almontaser

A love letter to the country and people of Yemen, a portrait of young Muslim womanhood in New York after 9/11, and an extraordinarily composed examination of what it means to carry in the body the echoes of what came before.