the new poetry review

The New Poetry Review: An American Sunrise

NATALIE PATTERSON An American Sunrise Joy Harjo 2019 Joy Harjo’s latest full-length poetry collection begins with a prologue and a map. “On May 28, 1830, President Andrew Jackson unlawfully signed the Indian Removal Act to force move southeastern peoples from our homelands to the West. We were rounded up with what we could carry.” The […]

by The Salemite

The New Poetry Review: Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky

NATALIE PATTERSON Deaf Republic Ilya Kaminsky 2019 Ilya Kaminsky’s much-anticipated second collection is an intricately crafted narrative that orbits the question of silence—silence in a time of unrest, political upheaval, and state violence. Winner of a Whiting Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, Kaminsky was born in the former Soviet Union and […]

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The New Poetry Review: The Best American Poetry 2019

NATALIE PATTERSON The Best American Poetry 2019 Major Jackson, Guest Editor David Lehman, Series Editor Though the question, “What is the best poetry in America?” is virtually impossible to answer, the Best American Poetry series seeks nonetheless to compile some of the finest American poems in one volume each year, edited by a different renowned […]

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The New Poetry Review: Oculus by Sally Wen Mao

NATALIE PATTERSON Oculus Sally Wen Mao 2019 Sally Wen Mao’s second poetry collection, Oculus, is a meeting of past, present, and future, at once a work of historical imagination and speculation for the digital age. Mao, born in Wuhan, China and raised in northern California, crafts an immense undertaking with Oculus, weaving together contemplations of […]

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The New Poetry Review: New Poets of Native Nations

NATALIE PATTERSON New Poets of Native Nations Ed. Heid E. Erdrich 2018 What is the purpose of a poetry anthology? Merriam-Webster defines “anthology” as merely “a collection of selected literary pieces or passages or works of art or music.” Truly, the compiling and editing of an anthology goes much deeper than this—the text must offer […]

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The New Poetry Review: Wade in the Water

NATALIE PATTERSON Wade in the Water Tracy K. Smith 2018 With “Wade in the Water” comes another vibrant and profound collection from Tracy K. Smith, Poet Laureate of the United States and Pulitzer Prize-winner for one of her previous books, “Life on Mars.” The much-awarded Smith presents in four sections thoughts on a surprisingly wide […]