Twitter Has Spoken: Check Out These Poetry Books From 2021

It began as a tweet.

Since we poets are disappointed so few poetry collections made the big, fancy lists, what if we compiled a list here — say, first 100 poetry collections we ❤️ from 2021 in no particular order, with 1 listing per person & duplicates excluded — & I posted it on my blog?

— Raegen Pietrucha believes in Sandy Claws 🦀🎁 (@FreeRadicalRP) November 25, 2021

And with the help of fellow poets on Twitter, it became this list.

Below is a broad swath of full-length and chapbook collections from 2021 — mostly from small/indie presses, I am pleased to report — that Twitter users posted in response to my tweet. Whenever I could, I linked directly to the publisher’s website so you can support these important organizations bringing fresh voices to the fore and ensure, in some cases, that the poets they have published receive a greater percentage of any royalties they may be entitled to.

Now, without further ado, and in no particular order, as promised, here are the 2021 poetry books Twitter users (myself included) highlighted.

FULL-LENGTH COLLECTIONS

Focal Point by Jenny Qi (Steel Toe Books)

Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat by Khalisa Rae (Red Hen Press)

Washed Away by Shiksha Dheda (Alien Buddha Press)

frank: sonnets by Diane Seuss (Graywolf Press)

The Thicket by Kasey Jueds (University of Pittsburg Press)

She Speaks in Tongues by Karla Van Vliet (Anhinga Press)

Love and Other Poems by Alex Dimitrov (Copper Canyon Press)

What Pecan Light by Han VanderHart (Bull City Press)

Shade of Blue Trees by Kelly Cressio-Moeller (Two Sylvias Press)

Philomath by Devon Walker-Figueroa (Milkweed Editions)

A Window of Passing Light by Kerry Darbishire (Dempsey & Windle)

The Naomi Letters by Rachel Mennies (BOA Editions)

Where the Wolf by Sally Rosen Kindred (Diode Editions)

The Summer We Didn’t Die by Christine Coates (Modjaji Press)

Borderline Fortune by Teresa Miller (Penguin Random House)

Color All Maps New by Jack Bedell (Mercer University Press)

In Plains Sight by Bonnie Larson Staiger (NDSU Press)

West Portal by Benjamin Gucciardi (University of Utah Press)

Peach State by Adrienne Su (University of Pittsburg Press)

Ordinary Psalms by Julia B. Levine (LSU Press)

Dad Jokes From Late in the Patriarchy by Amorak Huey (Sundress Publications)

American Divine by Aaron Poochigian (University of Evansville Press)

Linear by Bailey Gee

At Sea by Aicha Martine Thiam (Clash Books)

You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson (Button Poetry)

The Grief We’re Given by William Bortz (Central Avenue Publishing)

Liar by Jessica Cuello (Barrow Street)

Dor by Alina Stefanescu (Wandering Aengus Press)

Inside Ocean Größt’s Time Capsule by Astra Papachristodoulou (Penteract Press)

Embouchure by Emilia Phillips (University of Akron Press)

The Complete Stories by Noah Warren (Copper Canyon Press)

Ninety-Two Surgically Enhanced Mannequins by Julian Esteban Torres Lopez (The Nasiona)

Pilgrim Bell by Kaveh Akbar (Graywolf Press)

Diamonds by Camille Guthrie (BOA Editions)

Cutlish by Rajiv Mohabir (Four Way Books)

The Second Longest Day of the Year by Jean Prokott (Howling Bird Press)

speculation, n. by Shayla Lawz (Autumn House Press)

Midwest Infinity Doctrine by Jesse K. Baer (Apocalypse Party)

Hypermobilities by Ellen Samuels (The Operating System)

Dialogues With Rising Tides by Kelli Russell Agodon (Copper Canyon Press)

I Am Not Trying to Hide My Hungers From the World by Kendra DeColo (BOA Editions)

Omma, Sea of Joy and Other Astrological Signs by Bo Schwabacher (Tinderbox Editions)

Dear Diaspora by Susan Nguyen (Nebraska Press)

Cajoncito by Elizabeth M. Castillo

I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer (Harper Perennial)

We Die in Italy by Sarah Jean Alexander (Shabby Doll House)

Worldly Things by Michael Kleber-Diggs (Milkweed Editions)

The Water Engine by Ankh Spice (Femme Salve Books)

Talking to the Moon by Marie K. Ricci

I/O by Madeleine Wattenberg (University of Arkansas Press)

Map of a Plantation by Jenny Mitchell (Indigo Dreams Publishing)

Field Requiem by Sheri Benning (Carcanet Press)

the deering hour by Karen Elizabeth Bishop (Ornithopter Press)

An Insomniac’s Slumber Party With Marilyn Monroe by Heidi Seaborn (PANK)

Virginals by Larissa Szporluk (Burnside Review Press) [Editor’s Add]

History of Present Complaint by HLR (First Cut) [Editor’s Add]

CHAPBOOKS

How to Wake a Butterfly by Loic Ekinga (Odyssey Books)

American Cavewall Sonnets by C.T. Salazar (Bull City Press)

Bloodwarm by Taylor Byas (Variant Literature)

I’d Better Let You Go by Nikki Dudley (Beir Bua Press)

Blerd by Chris L. Butler

Tear and Share by Leia Belle Butler (Broken Sleep Books)

What We Bring Home by Susan Coultrap-McQuin

Big Girl With Buck Teeth by Shyla Jones (Bottlecap Press)

Self-Portrait as Poems About Bad Poetry by Rachael Crosbie

Erotecay by Palaces (Lupercalia Press)

No Heroes by Isaura Ren

Ward by Ryan Vine (TAMU Press)

Twerkable Moments by Jason B. Crawford (Paper Nautilus)

Gradual Reduction to Bone by Kali Richmond (Nine Pens)

Alien Year by Louise Akers (Oversound)

Strays Pack 4 by Mary Ruefle, Julianne Neely, and Rachelle Toarmino (Foundlings Press)

Postcards From Ragnarok by Katy Naylor (Alien Buddha Press)

Text/iles by Imogen Reid (Timglaset)

Golden Hour Minus the Glow by Lindsey Heatherly (Between Shadows Press)

Coughing Up Planets by Samantha Fain (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press) [Editor’s Add]

zero-zero by Maureen Seaton and Kristine Snodgrass (Hysterical Press) [Editor’s Add]

OTHER NOTABLES (outside the 2021 time frame)

Listen My Friend, This Is the Dream I Had Last Night by Cody Rose Clevidence (The Song Cave) – 2022

Ways We Vanish by Todd Dillard (Okay Donkey) – 2020

Hinge by Alycia Pirmohamed (Ignition Press) – 2020

Lineage of Rain by Janel Pineda (Haymarket Books) – 2020

Loudest When Startled by Lukas Ray Hall (YesYes Books) – 2020

Where Flora Sings by Margaret Royall (Hedgehog Poetry Press) – 2020

Tuned by Kyla Houbolt (CCCP Chapbooks) – 2020

Her Lost Language by Jenny Mitchell (Indigo Dreams Publishing) – 2019

Tigress by Jessica Mookherjee (Nine Arches Press) – 2019

Diary of a Ghost Girl by Shay Alexi (Glass Poetry) – 2019

Scratching the Surface by Dave Lewis – 2019

Back to Grace by Earthschool Harmony – 2018

Calling a Wolf a Wolf by Kaveh Akbar (Alice James Books) – 2017