Now, I’m what you would call, someone who traditionally has said they hate poetry. However, this year, I have discovered some poetry books that really hit me. At first I was just going to talk about my favorites, but then I decided just to talk about all of the poetry I read this year. So from lowest to highest rated, here are all the poetry books I read in 2019.
Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong was, unfortunately, the one collection that made me feel like I wasn’t understanding something. I should’ve read this right after I went to one of Vuong’s poetry reading, so I could’ve at least had that frame of reference. This was hardcore a case of, it’s not the book, it’s me. No rating because of that.
Trigger by Venus Selenite wasn’t for me, poetry style, but it covers a lot of serious, needed topics, like racism, transphobia, and politics. My favorite poems were the haikus xe wrote. I think a different person would’ve gotten a lot more out of this, but I just don’t like a lot of traditional free verse. 3 stars.
The Ice Princess’s Fair Illusion by Lynn E. O’Connacht was the first story in verse I read and it was great. It’s a retelling of a little known fairy-tale, but with aromatic and asexual characters. Maren and Edel are in a queer platonic relationship and tell the story of their lives and how they got together. It wasn’t my normal thing, but I enjoyed it. 3 stars.
Goddess of the Hunt by Shelby Eileen was great in tying Greek mythology with the aro-spectrum. It was very good, but as someone with a passing knowledge of Greek mythology, I wanted a little more exploration of other figures who could be seen as aromatic. 4 stars.
Soft Science by Franny Choi is great and more sci-fi themed than anything. I really enjoyed this one, which was probably helped that I had seen her live recently, so I didn’t have the same problems I had with Ocean Vuong. 4 stars.
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is my favorite novel in verse this year. I’m also going to talk about this the least because I feel like everyone else read it in 2018 and had it in their top 3 favorites of 2018. The audiobook was phenomenal. My one issue was slight pacing issues, but please read this is you haven’t already. 4.5 stars.
Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith is my favorite traditionally published poetry collection. Some of the formatting of the poems were simply gorgeous and artful. The themes include the intersection of being black, gay, and HIV positive. 5 stars.
Femme in Public by Alok Vaid-Menon was the shortest and first collection I read this year, but my god did it pack a punch. I nearly cried while reading it. It deals mainly with, as the title suggests, femme in public. If nothing else, please go look up Alok’s spoken word performances. Also buy their poems, but if I can convince you to do nothing else, watch their videos online. 5 stars.
If you are someone who says they hate poetry, I’d recommend one of the last three poetry books. Also, as someone who usually hates poetry, I’m clearly not the person to write about poetry, so I do recommend reading other reviews of these books.
Have you read any of these books? Have I convinced you to buy any of these? Are there any collections I should prioritize next year? Let me know!
Kappa Reads 
Thanks for the recommendations. I’ve been really wanting to read more stories told in verse.
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