April is National Poetry Month, a time to celebrate the role played by poetry and poets in our culture, and to read some poetry! We've got you all set to find a collection of poetry to sink into, with lists created by librarians for adults, teens, and kids.

National Poetry Month display at the Ballard Branch

Seattle Picks: 2021 Poetry Revisited
2021 was another good year for poetry, with new work from established poets such as Rita Dove, who explores the many forms of apocalypses, as well as from Pulitzer winner Tracy K. Smith and Nobel Prize winner Louise Glück; the debut collection of Amanda Gorman, who was the inaugural poet at Biden's 2021 inauguration; and much, much more.

Seattle Picks: Black Poets
Dig into this list of 40 books by Black poets and explore a wide range of poetic form, topic, and voice.

Teen Novels in Verse
Poetic form can be versatile! Explore these rich, complex YA narratives told in verse.

Poetry Picks for Kids
Kids will revel in these poetry picture books on topics ranging from street food, to animals, to the changing seasons, to basketball players, and more!

We also have two poetry collections featured in our current Peak Picks browsing collection:

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
In his second poetry collection, Vuong weaves together poems that explore the aftershocks of his mother's death with the struggle and reward of being fully present in the world. Read a full review via NPR.

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire
While this is Shire's debut collection, she is already much-lauded, having written the poetry featured in Beyoncé's Lemonade, as well as serving as the first Young Poet Laureate of London and receiving the Brunel International African Poetry Prize. In this collection Shire draws from her own life and the lives of loved ones to present a powerful portrait of migration and immigration, belonging and struggle. Read a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

Want to read a poem right now?! Try the poem-a-day from the Academy of American Poets, the group behind National Poetry Month; or check out a spring poem from the Poetry Foundation website. Want to drop into a library branch and browse? Look for the call number area 811.54 through 811.6, or for children J811.54 through J811.6.

~ posted by Andrea G.