Books to Read for National Poetry MonthLike this list

20 items

• The Distance of a Shout

  Selected Poems

  Ondaatje, Michael, 1943-

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  The Distance of a Shout is a poetic memoir by Michael Ondaatje, reflecting on his fifty-year journey. Through memories of childhood in Sri Lanka and life in rural Ontario, he explores loss, self-discovery, family, friendship, and the passage of time.

• No One Knows Us There

  Poems

  Bebenek, Jessica

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  In this stunning debut collection, Bronwen Wallace Award finalist Jessica Bebenek presents two distinct and moving portraits of early womanhood. The first is that of the devoted, caregiving granddaughter navigating hospital hallways and the painful…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Familial Hungers

  Poems

  Wu, Christine (Poet)

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  Familial Hungers features poems that reckon with identity, race, and fractured relationships through the lens of food. There are the bubbling expectations for immigrant daughters, the chewy strands of colonial critique, and dissolving crystals of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Best Canadian Poetry 2026

  Dalton, Mary

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  Featuring introductions by Mary Dalton and series editor Anita Lahey, Best Canadian Poetry 2026 offers a collection of brief but impactful glimpses into our current literary landscape, that expands our worldview and continues in the series tradition…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Milk and Honey

  10th Anniversary Collector's Edition

  Kaur, Rupi

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  Since its debut, milk and honey has sold more than 6 million copies globally, becoming the highest-selling book of poetry in the 21st century and propelling Rupi Kaur into the stratosphere as the voice of a generation. This stunning new hardcover…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Falling Back in Love With Being Human

  Letters to Lost Souls

  Thom, Kai Cheng

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  A transformative collection of intimate and lyrical love letters that offer a path toward compassion, forgiveness, and self-acceptance.

• Spells, Wishes, and the Talking Dead

  Mamahtâwisiwin, Pakosêyimow, Nikihci-âniskotâpân : Poems

  John-Kehewin, Wanda, 1971-

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  Broken into three sections, Spells, Wishes, and the Talking Dead looks at the sickening grip of colonialism: its ongoing detriment to the mental health of Indigenous people, its theft of language, and the scope of its intergenerational harms. The…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Little Miracles

  Butler, Victoria (Author of Little miracles)

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  From Barrie's Poet Laureate, Little Miracles follows the narrative of a poet who invents herself through the power of her own story, and whose story reinforces and sustains the ways she becomes a confident and emotionally assertive individual. Here…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Grace of Falling Stars

  Meyer, Bruce, 1957-

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  In Grace of Falling Stars, local author Bruce Meyer tells the story of his own life in poems that are intimate. The poems take the reader to the defining instants of perception where time stands still, where the heart and the head are one and at…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bearing Fruit

  Ternent, Tyneisha

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  Tyneisha Ternent -- or Ty the Poetess -- is a writer and spoken word artist residing in Barrie. "Bearing Fruit" is about Tyneisha's experience with pregnancy and birth.

• Scars & Stars

  Thistle, Jesse

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  In Scars and Stars, Jesse Thistle digs deeper into the poetic form, which is especially close to his heart. Charting his own history, the stories of people from his past, the burning intensity of new and unexpected love, the complex legacies of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Nomenclature

  New and Collected Poems

  Brand, Dionne, 1953-

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  Spanning almost four decades, Dionne Brand's poetry has given rise to whole new grammars and vocabularies. An immense achievement, comprising a decades-long career this book features new and collected poetry from one of Canada's most honoured and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Make the World New

  the Poetry of Lillian Allen

  Allen, Lillian, 1951-

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  Lillian Allen is one of the leading creative Black feminist voices in Canada. Make the World New brings together some of the highlights of Lillian Allen's work in a single volume, the first book of her poems to be published in over twenty years. It…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dearly

  Poems

  Atwood, Margaret, 1939-

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  Margaret Atwood is a prolific writer, poet, essayist, and activist from Ottawa. "Dearly" is the author's first collection of poetry in over a decade that addresses themes such as love, loss, the passage of time, nature -- and zombies.

• Whylah Falls

  Clarke, George Elliott, 1960-

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  George Elliott Clarke is a poet, playwright and literary critic from Nova Scotia. "Whylah Falls" is a novel in verse that recounts the lives of poor Black Canadians in rural southwestern Nova Scotia in the 1930s.

• Leonard Cohen

  Poems and Songs

  Cohen, Leonard, 1934-

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  Leonard Cohen was a singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist from Quebec. "Poems and Songs" contains a cross section of his five decades of influential work, encompassing the erotic and the melancholy, the mystical and the sardonic.

• Selected Poetry and Prose

  Service, Robert W., 1874-1958

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  Robert W. Service was a poet and writer born in Scotland and lived in Canada for awhile, most notably in the Yukon. He is the author of the famous poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee". This book features a selection of the author's poetry and prose,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson

  Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886

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  Emily Dickinson was a reclusive American poet. Emily's poems are about life and death, love, and nature.

• Frost

  Frost, Robert, 1874-1963

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  From one of the most brilliant and widely read of all American poets, a generous selection of lyrics, dramatic monologues, and narrative poems -- all of them steeped in the wayward and isolated beauty of Frost's native New England. Includes his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

  Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849

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  The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe contains every known tale written by the famous gothic American writer. Poe's often macabre and dark works, which span the years from 1827 to his death in 1849, include "The Raven," "The Black Cat," "The…Read moreRead more of this annotation