“Duende: poems” by Tracy K. Smith

Also available in eAudio.

“Duende,” that dark and elusive force described by Federico García Lorca, is the creative and ecstatic power an artist seeks to channel from within. It can lead the artist toward revelation, but it must also, Lorca says, accept and even serenade the possibility of death. Tracy K. Smith’s bold second poetry collection explores history and the intersections of folk traditions, political resistance, and personal survival. “Duende” gives passionate testament to suppressed cultures, and allows them to sing.

“Life on Mars” by Tracy K. Smith

Also available in eAudio.

With allusions to David Bowie and interplanetary travel, Life on Mars imagines a soundtrack for the universe to accompany the discoveries, failures, and oddities of human existence. In these brilliant new poems, Tracy K. Smith envisions a sci-fi future sucked clean of any real dangers, contemplates the dark matter that keeps people both close and distant, and revisits the kitschy concepts like “love” and “illness” now relegated to the Museum of Obsolescence. These poems reveal the realities of life lived here, on the ground, where a daughter is imprisoned in the basement by her own father, where celebrities and pop stars walk among us, and where the poet herself loses her father, one of the engineers who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope. With this remarkable third collection, Smith establishes herself among the best poets of her generation.

Since it’s publication in 2011, “Life on Mars” has received much deserved critical praise, won numerous awards and has appeared on quite a few notable book lists:

Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize

One of the 100 Notable Books of 2011 – “New York Times Sunday Book Review“

Editor’s Choice List for 2011 – “New York Times Sunday Book Review“

One of the Reviewer’s Favorites from 2011 – “The New Yorker“

One of the Best Poetry Books of 2011 – “Library Journal” and “Publishers Weekly“

“Ordinary Light: A Memoir” by Tracy K.Smith

Also available in eBook.

An acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning poet explores coming-of-age and the meaning of home against a complex backdrop of race, faith and the unbreakable bond between a mother and daughter.

“Wade in the Water: Poems” by Tracy K. Smith

Also available in eAudio.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, using her signature voice—inquisitive, lyrical and wry—mulls over what it means to be a citizen, a mother and an artist in a culture arbitrated by wealth, men and violence, boldly tying America’s modern moment both to our nation’s fraught founding history and to a sense of the spirit, the everlasting.

Library of Congress

Academy of America Poets

Poetry Foundation

“The Roots of a Thousand Embraces : Dialogues” by Juan Felipe Herrera

In 40 cantos, the poet embarks on a journey of discovery into the metaphysical meaning of Frida Kahlo’s artistic life.

“Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems” by Juan Felipe Herrera

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the International Latino Book Award, this amazing collection of poetry provides a small glimpse into the genius of a truly talented author and activist.

Library of Congress

Academy of American Poets

Poetry Foundation

“Caribou” by Charles Wright

A collection by the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award and other prestigious accolades meditates on life and nature while exploring the author’s restless pursuit of a divine reality.

“Black Zodiac” by Charles Wright

A well-known anthology of poetry, which also won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The poems in this collection lyrically comtemplate the themes of faith, religion, heritage and morality.

Library of Congress

Academy of American Poets

Poetry Foundation

“Thrall: poems” by Natasha Trethewey

Collects the author’s poems as she reflects on her own interracial ancestry, her estrangement from her father, and their place in the history of race in America.

“Domestic Work : Poems” by Natasha Trethewey

A widely celebrated collection of poems selected by Rita Dove, former U.S. Poet Laureate, for the 1999 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Trethewey draws moving domestic portraits of families, past and present, caught in the act of earning a living and managing their households.

Library of Congress

Academy of American Poets

Poetry Foundation

“My Lost Poets” by Philip Levine

The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet describes his journey to understand himself and his art form and describes the events, memorable teachers and lifelong friends who influenced him as well as the other poets he admires, including William Carlos Williams, John Keats and William Wordsworth.

“The Last Shift” by Philip Levine

The final book of poems from the National Book Award awardee and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who died in early 2015 includes his lyrical takes on his family and childhood, the power of dreaming and poems about his heroes.

Library of Congress

Academy of American Poets

Poetry Foundation

“Garden Time” by W.S.Merwin

Shares poems from the author about longing, loss, and the unanswerable questions of the world.

“The Lice” by W.S. Merwin

According to the Poetry Foundation, this collection is one of Merwin’s most critically acclaimed and influential works of poetry. When first published in 1967, W.S. Merwin’s “The Lice” was ground-breaking. Its visionary urgency directly engaged the nexus of aesthetics and morality, exerting an immediate and lasting effect on the writing and reading of poetry. Like all great art, this monumental work continues to inspire.