These are poems that I have either taught or plan to teach in my poetry workshops. If you are an educator, add them to your curriculum. If you aren’t, read them and send them to your friends.
1. Mathias Svalina – “One Night” (Poets.org)
2. Lisa Ciccarello – “At Night, By Marriage” (Poets.org)
3. Tarfia Faizullah – “Aubade Ending with the Death of a Mosquito” (Poetry Foundation)
4. Sherwin Bitsui – “River” (Poetry Foundation)
5. Omar Sakr – “Ghosting the Ghetto” (Cosmonauts Avenue)
6. Sam Sax – “Doctrine” (Poets.org)
7. Nils Michals – “The Key, the Lock” (PANK)
8. Srikanth Reddy – “Four Poems” (Jacket Magazine)
9. Kim Hyesoon – “Three Poems” (Asymptote)
10. Natalie Eilbert – “Imprecation“ (Poetry Society of America)
11. Solmaz Sharif – “Social Skills Training” (Buzzfeed)
12. Charif Shanahan – “Wanting to be White” (Lit Hub)
13. Richard Siken – “Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out” (Poetry Foundation)
Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos, and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.