Best 2020, Best Books, Best Year-End, Poetry

The Best Poetry Books of 2020 (A Year-End List Aggregation)

“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:

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

Home Body

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

How to Fly

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

Just Us: An American Conversation

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

Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose

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

My Darling from the Lions

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

Poor

Lists It Appears On:

  • Financial Times
  • The Guardian



13.) Rendang written byWill Harris

Rendang

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

Runaway

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

Seeing The Body

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

The Age Of Phillis

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

The Air Year

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

The Malevolent Volume

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

Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass

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

When The Light Of The World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology Of Native Nations Poetry

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

Finna: Poems

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

Dearly

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

Obit

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

Postcolonial Love Poem

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

Homie

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



#BookAuthorLists
2013th BalloonMark BibbinsNPR
21A Nail the Evening Hangs OnMonica SokNYPL
22African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & SongKevin Young
Barnes & Noble
23After CallimachusStephanie Burt Mark Payne (Contribution by)
The Telegraph
24After Fame 
The Telegraph
25All Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts for Boundless LivingMorgan Harper NicholsGoodreads
26All HeathensMarianne Chan
Largehearted Boy
27An Incomplete List Of NamesMichael TorresNPR
28And I Do Not Forgive You: Stories And Other RevengesAmber SparksNPR
29Beowulf: A New TranslationMaria Dahvana HeadleyNPR
30Break Your Glass Slippers (You Are Your Own Fairy Tale, #1)Amanda LovelaceGoodreads
31Citadel 
The Telegraph
32Collective GravitiesChloe N. ClarkNPR
33Coming to Age BookPage
34Conjure 
Library Journal
35Dance On Saturday: StoriesElwin CotmanNPR
36DandelionGabbie Hanna
Barnes & Noble
37Dark Blood Comes From The FeetEmma J. GibbonNPR
38DMZ ColonyDon Mee Choi
Publishers Weekly
39Every Day We Get More IllegalJuan Felipe Herrera
Library Journal
40FeedTommy PicoNY Times
41Felon: PoemsReginald Dwayne BettsNY Times
42Field MusicAlexandria Hall
Library Journal
43Foreign Bodies: PoemsKimiko HahnNPR
44Funny Weather: Art In An EmergencyOlivia LaingNPR
45Gigantic CinemaPaul Keegan Alice Oswald
The Telegraph
46GrimoireCherene SherrardNYPL
47Gut BotanyPetra KuppersNYPL
48Having And Being HadEula BissNPR
49Here For It: Or, How To Save Your Soul In AmericaR. Eric ThomasNPR
50Here is the Sweet HandFrancine J. Harris
Largehearted Boy
51Hood CriaturaFéi HernandezNPR
52Hood Feminism: Notes From The Women That A Movement ForgotMikki KendallNPR
53How To Carry Water: Selected Poems Of Lucille CliftonLucille CliftonNPR
54How To Wash A HeartBhanu Kapil
The Guardian
55I Don’t Want To Die Poor: EssaysMichael ArceneauxNPR
56I Hold A Wolf By The Ears: StoriesLaura van den BergNPR
57I Will Take The Answer: EssaysAnder MonsonNPR
58I Would Leave Me If I CouldHalsey
Barnes & Noble
59Inmates 
The Telegraph
60Intimations: Six EssaysZadie SmithNPR
61Kontemporary Amerikan PoetryJohn MurilloNYPL
62Lean Against This Late HourGarous Abdolmalekian Idra Novey (Translator) Ahmad Nadalizadeh (Translator) & 1 more
Library Journal
63Light for the World to See: A Thousand Words on Race and HopeKwame Alexander
Barnes & Noble
64Living Weapons: PoemsRowan Ricardo Phillips
Library Journal
65Love Child’s Hotbed Of Occasional Poetry: Poems & ArtifactsNikky FinneyNPR
66Magnetic Field 
The Guardian
67Music For The Dead And Resurrected: PoemsValzhyna MortNPR
68My Baby First Birthday: PoemsJenny ZhangNYPL
69NegotiationsDestiny O. Birdsong
Largehearted Boy
70Notes From An Apocalypse: A Personal Journey To The End Of The World And BackMark O’ConnellNPR
71On the HorizonLois LowryGoodreads
72Overstated: A Coast-to-Coast Roast Of The 50 StatesColin QuinnNPR
73Pale Colors in a Tall FieldCarl Phillips
Washington Post
74Paris 
The Guardian
75Road Trip 
The Telegraph
76Rural Voices: 15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town AmericaNora Shalaway CarpenterNPR
77Sanatorium 
The Guardian
78Shine, Darling 
The Telegraph
79Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide To Modern CinemaLindy WestNPR
80So We Can Glow: StoriesLeesa Cross-SmithNPR
81Something That May Shock And Discredit YouDaniel M. LaveryNPR
82Sometimes I Never SufferedShane McCrae
The Telegraph
83Squid SquadMatthew Welton
The Telegraph
84Still LifeCiaran Carson
Washington Post
85Summer Snow: New PoemsRobert Hass
Library Journal
86Swimming Lessons: PoemsLili ReinhartGoodreads
87The Absurd ManMajor Jackson
Library Journal
88The Black FlamingoDean AttaBook Riot
89The Cactus League: A NovelEmily NemensNPR
90The Fire of Joy 
The Guardian
91The Galleons: PoemsRick BarotNYPL
92The Girl and the Goddess: Stories and Poems of Divine WisdomNikita GillGoodreads
93The Hidden Girl And Other StoriesKen LiuNPR
94The HistoriansEavan Boland
Publishers Weekly
95The Lost SpellsRobert Macfarlane
Barnes & Noble
96The Martian’s Regress 
The Telegraph
97The Nancy Reagan CollectionMaxe CrandallNYPL
98The NightfieldsJoanna Klink
Washington Post
99The Problem of the ManyTimothy Donnelly
The Telegraph
100The Socrates Express: In Search Of Life Lessons From Dead PhilosophersEric WeinerNPR
101The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love & TruthWade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson (editors)NPR
102The Threadbare CoatThomas a. Clark Matthew Welton (Editor)
The Telegraph
103Thin Places: Essays From In BetweenJordan KisnerNPR
104This Is One Way To Dance: EssaysSejal ShahNPR
105Three PoemsHannah Sullivan
Library Journal
106Tomboyland: EssaysMelissa FalivenoNPR
107Tongues of FireSeán Hewitt
The Guardian
108Vesper FlightsHelen MacdonaldNPR
109Whale Day: And Other PoemsBilly Collins
Barnes & Noble
110What Kind of Woman: PoemsKate BaerGoodreads
111Where The Wild Ladies AreAoko MatsudaNPR
112Where Things Touch: A Meditation On BeautyBahar OrangNPR
113Wicked EnchantmentWanda Coleman
Washington Post
114World Of Wonders: In Praise Of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, And Other AstonishmentsAimee NezhukumatathilNPR
115Wow, No Thank You.: EssaysSamantha IrbyNPR
116You Want More: Selected Stories Of George SingletonGeorge SingletonNPR


14 Best Poetry Book Sources/Lists



SourceArticle
Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble’s Best Poetry of 2020
Book Riot Best Books of 2020 (So Far)
BookPage Each of these poetry books is a balm—for the soul and for the world
Financial Times Best books of 2020: Poetry
Goodreads Best Poetry
Largehearted Boy Favorite Poetry Collections of 2020
Library Journal Best Poetry of 2020
NPR NPR’s Book Concierge
NY Times 100 Notable Books of 2020
NYPL Best Books for Adults 2020
Publishers Weekly Best Poetry Books
The Guardian Poetry
The Telegraph The best poetry books of 2020
Washington Post Best poetry collections of 2020