11 September Poetry Releases
As summer draws to a close and the leaves begin to turn, we often turn inward. September is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about ourselves and our relationship with the world around us. To kick off the new month, we’ve selected eleven introspective September poetry releases to look forward to.
Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones
Release Date: Sept 13
Grief and history intertwine in this haunting collection by the award-winning author and poet Saeed Jones. Witty and elegant, this exciting new collection explores the perils of white supremacy, the weight of collective grief, and the realization that the apocalypse is upon us—it is a state of being.
Brother Sleep by Aldo Amparán
Release Date: Sept 13
An incredibly tender and sorrowful debut collection by poet Aldo Amparán, Brother Sleep transports readers to the border towns of El Paso, Texas, and Cuidad Juarez, Mexico. Here, the speaker mourns the loss of family and a sense of self as they navigate a space hostile toward queer and Mexican people.
Door to Door by Emma Walton Hamilton
Release Date: Sept 13
From poet, playwright, TV producer, and New York Times bestselling children’s author Emma Walton Hamilton comes Door to Door, a playful and magical collection split into four parts. With each part corresponding to the author’s life phases, Door to Door explores Hamilton’s childhood, family, motherhood, and aging.
Please Make Me Pretty, I Don’t Want to Die by Tawanda Mulalu
Release Date: Sept 13
A debut collection from poet Tawandanada Mulalu, Please Make Me Pretty, I Don’t Want to Die combines offbeat imagery with a mix of seriousness and humor to explore romantic and interracial intimacy. Mulalu’s fresh and original voice shines in a variety of forms—from sonnets and elegies to prose poetry and meditations—as it explores history, the body, and diaspora.
Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency by Chen Chen
Release Date: Sept 13
In an era of extreme unpredictability, poet Chen Chen calls upon one of the structures we rely on most: family (chosen and non). Humor, joy, love, and tragedy unfold in an array of settings, from West Texas to New England, from 2 a.m. prank calls to classroom emergency calls. Empathic and imaginative, this collection unpacks the many ways we hold onto each other.
little astronaut by J. Hope Stein
Release Date: Sept 20
This heartwarming poetry collection by critically acclaimed poet J. Hope Stein brings to vivid life the deeply personal—and also incredibly relatable—challenging and magical early days of new motherhood.
The Rupture Tense by Jenny Xie
Release Date: Sept 20
Praised as a “magician of scale” by The New Yorker, poet Jenny Xie toys with time, form, and sound in this anticipated second collection. The Rupture Tense opens with poems inspired by the photographs of Li Zhensheng, which are some of the few remaining archives of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. From there, Xie cracks open themes of diaspora, intergenerational trauma, collective amnesia, and more.
Intimacies, Received by Taneum Bambrick
Release Date: Sept 27
Poet Taneum Bambrick experiments with form in this second collection, utilizing ekphrasis, persona, and lyric essay to explore sexuality, intimacy, and violence. Set largely in rural Southern Spain, Intimacies, Received takes readers through the streets, homes, and years that surround a survivor of sexual assault.
Martian: The Saint of Loneliness by James Cagney
Release Date: Sept 27
Award-winning poet James Cagney’s second collection, Martian: The Saint of Loneliness, harnesses beautiful, blistering satire to explore American history. Journeying through time, space, and memory, this collection uses US history as a backdrop for the author’s quest for love, peace, and acceptance.
The Shift: Poetry for a New Perspective by Melody Godfred
Release Date: Sept 27
From Melody Godfred, author of Self Love Poetry: for Thinkers & Feelers, comes a sparkling collection of poems written to help us reframe how we see and move through a post-pandemic world. Godfred encourages readers to transform guilt into gratitude, resistance into surrender, and fear into love. Each poem is coupled with beautiful line drawings that awaken not just the mind, but also the heart.
find her. keep her. by Renaada Williams
Release Date: Sept 27
Bestselling author Renaada Williams reachers her readers with a new level of intimacy in this anticipated collection. Gripping, poignant, and raw, Williams explores queerness, Blackness, and womanhood in America.
