Grief Poetry

In this impressionistic collection of “poetry and other thoughts scattered to the wind,” author Ruqayyah K. Muhammad reflects on topics such as self-discovery, aging, motherhood, grief, gratitude, spirituality, and love of many varieties.

From acclaimed poet Franny Choi comes a poetry collection for the ends of worlds—past, present, and future. Choi’s third book features poems about historical and impending apocalypses, alongside musings on our responsibilities to each other and visions for our collective survival.

This book is a courageous account that you cannot help but resonate with because it reveals a very human condition: suffering. It gives you hope that trauma is not an end point; positive change is possible. Loanne developed a unique way of working through her journey using poetry. Her poems reflect different stages, from the depths of trauma and adversity to healing. Using her hallmark humor to deliver difficult messages, Loanne has tied her journey to poetry, with self-help information to provide a useful and practical resource that is heroically relatable.

When Erin Vincent was fourteen years old, both of her parents were killed in a traffic accident. Almost forty years later, the number 14 began haunting Erin, appearing everywhere–in the books she was reading, in films, TV shows, and on the news. The repetition felt significant, so Erin began to explore the number beyond her personal understanding. The result is Fourteen Ways of Looking, a memoir of magisterial fractals and a profound meditation on grief, memory, numerology, and the creative process.

This poetry collection deals with life, death, love, and the loss of a beloved, albeit complicated, parent.

In 2013, Neil Hilborn's performance of his poem "OCD" went viral. To date, it has been watched over 100 million times. Our Numbered Days is Neil’s debut full-length poetry collection, containing 45 of Neil's poems including "OCD", "Joey", "Future Tense", "Liminality", "Moving Day", and many, many never-before-seen poems.

A new volume of poetry from Robert Hass is always an event. In Summer Snow, Hass further affirms his position as one of our most highly regarded living poets. Hass’s trademark careful attention to the natural world, his subtle humor, and the delicate but wide-ranging eye he casts on the human experience are fully on display in his masterful collection. Touching on subjects including the poignancy of loss, the serene and resonant beauty of nature, and the mutability of desire, Hass exhibits his virtuosic abilities and expansive intellect, and tremendous listenability.

Abrir el corazón, dejar que se desangre, así entiende Alberto Villarreal la poesía y, en este nuevo libro, rompe con todo lo que nos enseñaron sobre ocultar lo que sentimos y esconder el amor que no encaja en lo que otros esperan. Cada poema de Te daré el olvido habla sin filtros sobre nombrar lo que duele y amar con valentía, sin miedo. Es un testimonio sobre lo difícil que es olvidar a las personas que hemos amado, y cómo su ausencia se vuelve un eco constante en el cuerpo.

This is an account of a life lived online. Swiping for approval. Scrolling for gratification. Searching for connection. From the glow of a screen in the middle of the night, to the harsh glare of the hospital waiting room, Validate Me, is a raw and honest look at the highs and the lows of a digital life.

A classic poem from acclaimed author Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Grief sometimes comes at Christmas. We may believe there is no hope for happiness again on the day of Christmas bells and gifts, but in the midst of this grief there is the birth of hope. When something is lost - something new may be found. Not easy, but universally true.

Trigger warning—this book is about infant loss. Are you ready to even try to wrap your head around such a devastation? I lived through it. The words to say are still being written. I have edited dozens of books, and I still cannot reach the bottom of my emotions. This book exposes my broken heart with jaw-dropping honesty. I have defied my silence and shared my melanated story with eye-opening audacity.

Following on his exquisite Stones, Young's new collection shapes stories of familial and familiar love, inspired in part by other lives. A central sequence, “The Two-Headed Nightingale,” is spoken by Millie-Christine McCoy, the famous conjoined African American “Carolina Twins.” Born into slavery and ill treatment as a “freak” sensation in 1851 and later free women, their alto and soprano voices harmonized, and Young's poem explores their evolving selfhood and self-understanding: “As one we sang, /we spake— / She was the body / I the soul / Without one / Perishes the whole.”

Library of Small Catastrophes, Alison Rollins's ambitious debut collection, interrogates the body and nation as storehouses of countless tragedies. Drawing from Jorge Luis Borges's fascination with the library, Rollins uses the concept of the archive to offer a lyric history of the ways in which we process loss. "Memory is about the future, not the past", she writes, and rather than shying away from the anger, anxiety, and mourning of her narrators, Rollins's poetry seeks to challenge the status quo.

In his much-anticipated follow-up to The Crown Ain't Worth Much, poet, essayist, biographer, and music critic Hanif Abdurraqib has written a book of poems about how one rebuilds oneself after a heartbreak, the kind that renders them a different version of themselves than the one they knew. It's a book about a mother's death, and admitting that Michael Jordan pushed off, about forgiveness, and how none of the author's black friends wanted to listen to "Don't Stop Believin'". It's about wrestling with histories, personal and shared.

Pain and trauma are what makes us human, arguably unifying us as a species. Finding our way out can be traumatic itself at the best of times, always confusing and so often riddled with false starts and mistakes. Through poetry, this collection will make you cry, laugh, empathize, question, and eventually help you find your way through and out of that dark place. From someone who has experienced the journey, and put in the years of study and work required to build a tool set to make the needed progress toward better mental health—the time is right to share this work with the world.

Immerse yourself in the soul-stirring verses of Aubrey E. Drummond’s second poetry collection, Eating ‘Round the Toilet Stool. Following the success of Boy, Kant You Read, Drummond continues to captivate with his poignant reflections on love, life, grief, and death. Experience the world through the eyes of a black man, as he weaves tales of reality and fantasy into a tapestry of emotions. Don’t miss this journey into the heart of life’s complexities.

I Had A Brother Once is a brilliant, genre-defying work - both memoir and epic poem - about the struggle for wisdom, grace, and ritual in the face of unspeakable loss. Adam is forced to re-remember a brother he thought he knew and to reckon with a ghost, confronting his unsettled family history, his distant relationship with tradition and faith, and his desperate need to understand an event that always slides just out of his grasp.

From one of the most-viewed spoken word poets of all time, a poetry collection exploring themes of loneliness, anxiety, and longing, while also celebrating the gifts that come with being alone - the chance to live on your own terms, to learn to love yourself without any distractions, and to become your own biggest champion.

Popular Instagram poet and bestselling author Morgan Harper Nichols reimagines the classic heroine's journey—from the very first call to adventure, through trials, hardships, and new relationships, all the way back home—and offers key lessons and affirmations to encourage and equip you every step of the way.

A microscopic and intense view of the sometimes invisible and ignored parts of the world we inhabit. Peering into cities and our place within them, the poet searches for meaning after the death of his father, and observes the flora and fauna, which provide beauty and nourish us. This book delights the senses and poses the question, are we contributing to, or ultimately destroying our planet?