“What are the best Poetry books released in 2019?” We looked at 137 of the top Poetry books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 16 books, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Poetry” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 100+ titles, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.

Our other Best Of 2019 Articles:

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

Our Other Years: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

Happy Scrolling!

Top 16 Best Poetry Books From 2019

16 .) After the Formalities written by Anthony Anaxagorou

Lists It Appears On:

• Guardian
• Telegraph

After the Formalities explores ideas of division and dominance, incorporating history, science and philosophy alongside autobiographical narratives to examine how race, class and masculinity is shaped in contemporary Britain. Technically achieved, emotionally transformative and razor-sharp.

15 .) An American Sunrise: Poems written by Joy Harjo

Lists It Appears On:

• City of Asylum Bookstore
• NPR

A stunning new volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, informed by her tribal history and connection to the land. In the early 1800s, the Mvskoke people were forcibly removed from their original lands east of the Mississip

14 .) Be Recorder written by Carmen Giménez Smith

Lists It Appears On:

• Entropy
• NPR

Finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry Carmen Giménez Smith dares to demand renewal for a world made unrecognizable Be Recorder offers readers a blazing way forward into an as yet unmade world. The many times and tongues in these poems investigate

13 .) Dunce written by Mary Ruefle

Lists It Appears On:

• NPR
• Entropy

“A new collection of poems by Mary Ruefle, the author of My Private Property, Trances of the Blast, Madness, Rack, and Honey, Selected Poems, The Most of It, and A Little White Shadow”–

12 .) Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers written by Jake Skeets

Lists It Appears On:

• Entropy
• BookMarks

“A major debut that feels timely and timeless.” –KATHY FAGAN

11 .) Invasive Species written by Marwa Helal

Lists It Appears On:

• Entropy
• BookMarks

A vernacular debut that uncompromisingly journeys towards its sole destination: the decolonization of the imagination

10 .) Lima :: Limón written by Natalie Scenters-Zapico

Lists It Appears On:

• NPR
• BookMarks

In her striking second collection, Natalie Scenters-Zapico sets her unflinching gaze once again on the borders of things. Lima :: Limón illuminates both the sweet and the sour of the immigrant experience, of life as a woman in the U.S. and Mexico, and of t

9.) Surge written by Jay Bernard

Lists It Appears On:

• Guardian
• Telegraph

*Shortlisted for Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2019* *Winner of the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry* Jay Bernard’s extraordinary debut is a fearlessly original exploration of the black British archive: an enquiry into the New Cross Fire o

8.) A Fortune for Your Disaster written by Hanif Abdurraqib

Lists It Appears On:

• City of Asylum Bookstore
• Goodreads
• Entropy

“When an author’s unmitigated brilliance shows up on every page, it’s tempting to skip a description and just say, Read this! Such is the case with this breathlessly powerful, deceptively breezy book of poetry.” —Booklist, Starred Review In his much-antici

7.) Hybrida written by Tina Chang

Lists It Appears On:

• Publishers Weekly
• BookMarks
• NPR

A stirring and confident examination of mixed-race identity, violence, and history skillfully rendered through the lens of motherhood. In this timely, assured collection, Tina Chang confronts the complexities of raising a mixed-race child during an era of

6.) Magical Negro written by Morgan Parker

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Entropy
• BookMarks

From the breakout author of There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé comes a profound and deceptively funny exploration of Black American womanhood. ‘2019 justly belongs to Morgan Parker. Her poems shred me with their intelligence, dark humor and black

5.) The Octopus Museum written by Brenda Shaughnessy

Lists It Appears On:

• Publishers Weekly
• Goodreads
• Library Journal

This collection of bold and scathingly beautiful feminist poems imagines what comes after our current age of environmental destruction, racism, sexism, and divisive politics. Informed by Brenda Shaughnessy’s craft as a poet and her worst fears as a mother,

4.) Oculus written by Sally Wen Mao

Lists It Appears On:

• Library Journal
• Entropy
• BookMarks
• NPR

A brilliant second collection by Sally Wen Mao on the violence of the spectacle—starring the film legend Anna May Wong In Oculus, Sally Wen Mao explores exile not just as a matter of distance and displacement but as a migration through time and a reckoning

3.) Soft Science written by Franny Choi

Lists It Appears On:

• City of Asylum Bookstore
• Goodreads
• Entropy
• BookMarks

Choi pairs complex pain with striking images, wrapping readers in mystical interpretations and then captures them within reality.

2.) The Tradition written by Jericho Brown

Lists It Appears On:

• City of Asylum Bookstore
• Guardian
• Publishers Weekly
• Goodreads
• Library Journal
• NPR
• Entropy
• BookMarks

Jericho Brown’s daring poetry collection The Tradition details the normalization of evil and its history at the intersection of the past and the personal. Brown’s poetic concerns are both broad and intimate, and at their very core a distillation of the inc

1.) Deaf Republic written by Ilya Kaminsky

Lists It Appears On:

• Guardian
• Publishers Weekly
• Library Journal
• Telegraph
• Entropy
• BookMarks
• City of Asylum Bookstore
• Goodreads
• NPR

Finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry Ilya Kaminsky’s astonishing parable in poems asks us, What is silence? Deaf Republic opens in an occupied country in a time of political unrest. When soldiers breaking up a protest kill a deaf boy, Petya, the

The 100+ Additional Best Poetry Books Released In 2019

12 Best Poetry Book Sources/Lists