Poetry

A surprising book from women who are oppressed in many ways, but their spirits, heart-felt desires (secular, sensual, and religious),and thoughts are not.

 Marilyn Chin's poetry is direct, asssertive and examines her own identity as a woman and Asian American. Never self-deprecating, she weaves humor, earthiness, and candor about origins, family and love.

A collection of poems by Lynne Thompson, who was Poet Laureate for the City of Los Angeles, 2021 - 2022.

Robin Coste Lewis, Los Angeles Poet Laureate, uses words, metre, rhyme and format to examine the artistic representation of black female enslavement through the millenniums.

He comes from several generations of military men, and as a soldier honors but does not glorify various types of war service. In this autobiography, Turner, a veteran of our most recent wars, suffering the effects of PTSD, sees the enemy, and himself through the enemy's eyes, and even through the imagined vision of a greviously injured cook. This book and  Redeployment by Phil Klay, listed on the Best of 2014:  Fiction, speak of the pain and truth of war.

A Persian epic poem written over 800 years ago.  The birds of the world go on a quest for a leader.  The seven valleys they cross represent the stations a Sufi must pass through in search of enlightenment, and when they reach their destination they find only a lake in which they can see their own reflections.
 

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1945 "for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2020 “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1996 "for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality"

Biographical information about Carlos Bulosan's life and poetry that includes an anthology of his poetry.

Sensuous poetry about the poet's family, life, death and politics.

A rich anthology of poems by Filipino and Filipino American writers.

Through his poetry Rigoberto González lyrically confronts harrowing cultural, political and moral issues.

Written by writers from all over the world this collection of poems pays tribute to Che Guevara

In this new edition of a classic work of poetry, Gary Soto draws upon his own Chicano heritage and of others who labored as immigrant agricultural workers in the San Joaquin Valley.

Richard Blanco was the fifth poet selected to read an original poem for a United States Presidential Inauguration. As an openly gay man and Cuban immigrant this was a very special event, which he recounts with humor, insight and reverence. 

Salvadoran poet Yesika Salgado is based in Los Angeles and writes about her family and her culture.

The 25th anniversay edition of Luis J. Rodriguez's first published poetry collection,  when he was "a 35-year old unknown writer hungry for the power of words, metaphors, and images, for the purposeful agreements that keep people in life, in art, in the realms of meaning and connection."

Joy Harjo, first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, reflects on returning to her native tribal land, and the past history of her people being forcibly removed from their homeland.

A collection of some of the epic poetic works of one of the most important modern poets in the Arab world. Mahmoud Darwish was Palestinian and through his poetry addressed the Palestinian struggle as well as other subjects, with truth, clarity and elegance. His other books can be found here.

A collection of poems, by eighty-three Persian women, from more than a thousand years ago to the present. According to the translator, Dick Davis, “The Persian language, especially its literary form, has remained far more stable over the past millennium than is true of most European languages.” Many of the subjects and issues that are important to women have remained the same: marriage, children, politics, emancipation (political, social and economic freedom) and death.  As well as the freedom of women to express themselves without serious repercussions. Therefore some poems are attributed to anonymous.

Ada Limón, U.S. Poet Laureate, has compiled  a collection of previously unpublished “nature poetry” written by major American poets. Each poem reflects the insights that individual poets have about their local natural landscapes.