Poetry Books and Events

Poetry

Whale Day: And Other Poems

by Billy Collins available in September, hardcover, Random House Collins takes us for a walk with an impossibly ancient dog, discovers the proper way to eat a banana, meets an Irish spider, and invites us to his own funeral. Facing both the wonders of being alive and the thrill of mortality, these new poems can only solidify Collins’s reputation as one of America’s most durable and interesting poets.

Thrown in the Throat

by Benjamin Garcia available now, paperback, Milkweed Editions Benjamin Garcia makes a stunning debut with Thrown in the Throat. In a sex-positive incantation that retextures what it is to write a queer life amidst troubled times, Garcia writes boldly of citizenship, family, and Adam Rippon’s butt. With language that arrives equal parts regal and raucous, Thrown in the Throat shines brilliant with sweat and an iridescent voice. These are poems complex and unabashed and unmistakably alive.

VB Virtual Poetry Readings! • Sept. 12, 7pm - Euphrates Moss • Oct. 11, 4pm - Group Poetry Reading Richard Widerkehr, Alice Derry, Gayle Kaune, and Jordan Hartt • Oct. 16, 5pm - Luci Shaw • Oct. 25, 4pm - Alexandra Teague & Elizabeth Vignali details & registration at villagebooks.com

Love Poems for the Office

by John Kenney available in October, hardcover, G.P. Putnam's Sons With the same brilliant wit and biting realism that made Love Poems for Married People, Love Poems for People with Children, and Love Poems for Anxious People such hits, John Kenney is back with a brand new collection that tackles the hilarity of life in the office, masterfully capturing the warmth and humor of working the “9 to 5” in today’s modern era.

How to Fly–In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons : Poetry

by Barbara Kingsolver available in September, hardcover, Harper In her second poetry collection, Barbara Kingsolver offers reflections on the practical, the spiritual, and the wild. She begins with “how to” poems addressing everyday matters such as being hopeful, married, divorced; shearing a sheep; praying to unreliable gods; doing nothing at all; and of course, flying. Next come rafts of poems about making peace (or not) with the complicated bonds of friendship and family, and making peace (or not) with death, in the many ways it finds us. Some poems reflect on the redemptive powers of art and poetry itself; others consider where everything begins

The Generosity: Poetry

by Luci Shaw available now, paperback, Paraclete Press “Luci Shaw’s poems have always been welcome company, but how much more so in anxious times ... Time spent with Luci is time redeemed. There is a substantial comfort in her instinct for pleasure—in language, creation, people, habits.” —Mary Kenagy Mitchell, Executive Editor, Image

Literature Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader's Guide to a More Tranquil Mind Check out our Virtual LitLive event schedule on pages 59-62! by Alan Jacobs available in September, hardcover, Penguin Press How does Frederick Douglass deal with the blind spots of America’s Founding Fathers? What can we learn from modern authors who engage with the past? How can Ursula Le Guin show us truths about Virgil’s female characters that Virgil could never have seen? In Breaking Bread with the Dead, a gifted scholar engages us with texts from across the ages, including the work of Edith Wharton, Amitav Ghosh, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Italo Calvino, and many more.