A framed poster of a stamp depicting Langston Hughes, who wrote some of the best poems in American history. Poetry provides the perfect way to indulge in the escapism of reading without the commitment ...

I remember the first time I picked up Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends in my elementary school library. It was filled with delightfully clever and funny rhymes, and the words danced off my ...

As I have every year since 2014, in 2025 I set aside a couple of months to peruse the year’s books of poetry — at least those books I had on hand. In the past, I’ve titled my annual roundup — one ...

The poetry world in and around Boston is one of the richest in the country — so many good writers, so much variety and depth. Between the Grolier Poetry Book Shop and the Blacksmith House Poetry ...

After four decades, the annual book series is drawing to a close. Our columnist looks at what it all meant. By Elisa Gabbert I wonder if there has ever been more equivocation about the word “best” and ...

As the editor of a magazine that includes a poetry column, I routinely read poems because I have to. But I also delve into ...

Verbal felicities, haunting or explosive imagery, the architectonic dazzlements of rhyme and meter — all these are dwarfed by American poetry’s reverence for genuineness, for authenticity. “Look in ...

“A poet’s hope,” wrote Auden, is “to be, / like some valley cheese, / local, but prized elsewhere.” No poet fulfilled that hope like Seamus Heaney. Born near Castledawson in 1939, he was loved the ...

From daring contemporary collections to the long-awaited definitive edition from one of the major poets of the 20th century, this is our pick of the best poetry books of the year. Whether you’re a ...