“What are the best Poetry books released in 2020?” We looked at 116 of the top Poetry books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 19 books, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Poetry” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 75+ titles, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.

Our other Best Of 2020 Articles:

• The Best Art, Photography, And Coffee Table Books
• The Best AudioBooks
• The Best Biography And Memoir Books
• The Best Graphic Novels And Comics
• The Best Cookbooks
• The Best Fiction Books
• The Best Books (All Categories)
• The Best History Books
• The Best Kids, Children, and Youth Books
• The Best Mystery, Horror, and Thriller Books
• The Best Nonfiction Books
• The Best Poetry Books
• The Best Science And Nature Books
• The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
• The Best Young Adult Books

Previous Years: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

All titles have been added to a Bookshop list as well!

Happy Scrolling!

Top 19 Best Poetry Books From 2020

19.) Home Body written byRupi Kaur

Lists It Appears On:

• Barnes & Noble
• Goodreads

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of milk and honey and the sun and her flowers comes her greatly anticipated third collection of poetry. rupi kaur constantly embraces growth, and in home body, she walks readers through a reflective and intimate journey visiting the past, the present, an

18.) How to Fly written byBarbara Kingsolver

Lists It Appears On:

• Barnes & Noble
• BookPage

In this intimate collection, the beloved author of The Poisonwood Bible and more than a dozen other New York Times bestsellers, winner or finalist for the Pulitzer and countless other prizes, now trains her eye on the everyday and the metaphysical in poems that are smartly crafted, emotionally rich,

17.) Just Us: An American Conversation written byClaudia Rankine

Lists It Appears On:

• The Guardian
• NPR

Claudia Rankine’s Citizen changed the conversation–Just Us urges all of us into it As everyday white supremacy becomes increasingly vocalized with no clear answers at hand, how best might we approach one another? Claudia Rankine, without telling us what to do, urges us to begin the discussions that

16.) Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose written byNikki Giovanni

Lists It Appears On:

• BookPage
• Barnes & Noble

One of America’s most celebrated poets challenges us with this powerful and deeply personal collection of verse that speaks to the injustices of society while illuminating the depths of her own heart.For more than fifty years, Nikki Giovanni’s poetry has dazzled and inspired readers. As sharp and ou

15.) My Darling from the Lions written byAlice Denham

Lists It Appears On:

• The Guardian
• The Telegraph

Alice Denham’s My Darling from the Lions portrays the passionate conflict between a young painter and her macho composer husband, their lovers, her female rage, his brutality, and her struggle for self-realization as an artist. The Sunday New York Times Book Review said, “When Miss Denham is being l

14.) Poor written byCaleb Femi

Lists It Appears On:

• Financial Times
• The Guardian

13.) Rendang written byWill Harris

Lists It Appears On:

• Financial Times
• The Guardian

Using long poems, ekphrasis, and ruptured forms, RENDANG is a startling new take on the self, and how an identity is constructed. Drawing on his Anglo-Indonesian heritage, Will Harris shows us new ways to think about the contradictions of identity and cultural memory. He creates companions that spea

12.) Runaway written byJorie Graham

Lists It Appears On:

• Publishers Weekly
• NPR

A new collection of poetry from one of our most acclaimed contemporary poets, Pulitzer Prize winner Jorie Graham In her formidable and clairvoyant new collection, Runaway, Jorie Graham deepens her vision of our futurity. What of us will survive? Identity may be precarious, but perhaps love is not? K

11.) Seeing The Body written byRachel Eliza Griffiths

Lists It Appears On:

• NPR
• Largehearted Boy

Poems and photographs collide in this intimate collection, challenging the invisible, indefinable ways mourning takes up residence in a body, both before and after life-altering loss.In radiant poems–set against the evocative and desperate backdrop of contemporary events, pop culture, and politics-

10.) The Age Of Phillis written byHonorée Fanonne Jeffers

Lists It Appears On:

• NPR
• Library Journal

In 1773, a young, African American woman named Phillis Wheatley published a book of poetry that challenged Western prejudices about African and female intellectual capabilities. Based on fifteen years of archival research, The Age of Phillis, by award-winning writer Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, imagines

9.) The Air Year written byCaroline Bird

Lists It Appears On:

• The Guardian
• The Telegraph

Winner of the 2020 Forward Prize for Best Collection. A Telegraph Poetry Book of the Month (February 2020). The Air Year is a time of flight, transition and suspension: signatures scribbled on the sky. Bird’s speakers exist in a state of unrest, trapped in a liminal place between take-off and landin

8.) The Malevolent Volume written byJustin Phillip Reed

Lists It Appears On:

• Washington Post
• NPR

Subverting celebrated classics of poetry and mythology and examining horrors from contemporary film and cultural fact, National Book Award winner Justin Phillip Reed engages darkness as an aesthetic to conjure the revenant animus that lurks beneath the exploited civilities of marginalized people. In

7.) Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass written byLana Del Rey

Lists It Appears On:

• Barnes & Noble
• Goodreads

THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED DEBUT BOOK OF POETRY FROM LANA DEL REY, VIOLET BENT BACKWARDS OVER THE GRASS “Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is the title poem of the book and the first poem I wrote of many. Some of which came to me in their entirety, which I dictated and then typed out, and some that I

6.) When The Light Of The World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology Of Native Nations Poetry written byJoy Harjo

Lists It Appears On:

• BookPage
• NPR

This landmark anthology celebrates the indigenous peoples of North America, the first poets of this country, whose literary traditions stretch back centuries.

5.) Finna: Poems written byNate Marshall

Lists It Appears On:

• Largehearted Boy
• NYPL
• NPR

Sharp, lyrical poems celebrating the Black vernacular–its influence on pop culture, its necessity for familial survival, its rite in storytelling and in creating the safety found only within its intimacy “Terrific . . . illuminates life in this country in a strikingly original way.”–Ron Charles, T

4.) Dearly written byMargaret Atwood

Lists It Appears On:

• Financial Times
• Goodreads
• The Telegraph
• Library Journal

A new book of poetry from internationally acclaimed, award-winning and bestselling author Margaret AtwoodIn Dearly, Margaret Atwood’s first collection of poetry in over a decade, Atwood addresses themes such as love, loss, the passage of time, the nature of nature and – zombies. Her new poetry is in

3.) Obit written byVictorian Chang

Lists It Appears On:

• NPR
• Book Riot
• Publishers Weekly
• NY Times

Longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award in Poetry After her mother died, poet Victoria Chang refused to write elegies. Rather, she distilled her grief during a feverish two weeks by writing scores of poetic obituaries for all she lost in the world. In Obit, Chang writes of “the way memory gets u

2.) Postcolonial Love Poem written byNatalie Diaz

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Financial Times
• NYPL
• The Guardian
• NPR

FINALIST FOR THE 2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR POETRY Natalie Diaz’s highly anticipated follow-up to When My Brother Was an Aztec, winner of an American Book Award Postcolonial Love Poem is an anthem of desire against erasure. Natalie Diaz’s brilliant second collection demands that every body carried

1.) Homie written byDanez Smith

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Publishers Weekly
• Financial Times
• NYPL
• NPR
• Largehearted Boy

Danez Smith is our president Homie is Danez Smith’s magnificent anthem about the saving grace of friendship. Rooted in the loss of one of Smith’s close friends, this book comes out of the search for joy and intimacy within a nation where both can seem scarce and getting scarcer. In poems of rare pow

The 75+ Additional Best Poetry Books Released In 2020

14 Best Poetry Book Sources/Lists