It's National Poetry Month; Therefore, Buy Books. Part III.

Put money in thy purse! It's time to buy some more poetry books in celebration of National Poetry Month. Be generous to yourself. And don't forget that poetry books make great gifts.


Martha Silano
Reckless Lovely (Saturnalia)

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Martha Silano’s poetry is gloriously street-smart and fully roaming and ripe. I want to stand up and slow-clap when she fixes her exacting gaze on warthogs, space probes, millipedes or miracles.These stunning pages, like a "land-less landmass, [a] dollop-y desert dessert loosed," fold moments of joy into Reckless Lovely with inventive, chewy language, and a relentless appreciation of music and delight.
                                              —Aimee Nezhukumatathil 


Read 2 poems with audio at Terrain
Read “House of Mystery” at The Journal







Natalie Diaz
When My Brother Was an Aztec (Copper Canyon)
won the Debut-litzer Prize
Won an American Book Award

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This debut collection is a fast-paced tour of Mojave life and family narrative: A sister fights for or against a brother on meth, and everyone from Antigone, Houdini, Huitzilopochtli, and Jesus is invoked and invited to hash it out. These darkly humorous poems illuminate far corners of the heart, revealing teeth, tails, and more than a few dreams. 
                                                            —publisher’s note



Read sample poems at Drunken Boat
See Natalie's Sunday Poem feature at Gwarlingo








Carl Dennis
Another Reason (Penguin Books)

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These poems enact a drama of attempted persuasion, as the poet confers with himself, with intimates, and with strangers, if only in the hope that by defining differences more precisely one may be drawn into a genuine dialogue. As the poet asserts and questions his own authority, encountering a wide range of competing claims from other voices, we find ourselves included in a conversation that deepens our notion of the human community.
                                                                      —Publisher’s note


Read 2 poems at Plume
Read “Introduction to Philosophy” in Ploughshares







Karla Huston
A Theory of Lipstick (Main Street Rag)

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Karla Huston's poetry is both brainy and sensuous, and the whole is underwritten by a musical ear attuned to the American idiom at its jazziest. From the title poem, which is a tour de force of naming, to the linguistic highwire act she performs in "O Hair," Huston writes the way her mother wore lipstick—"red was her color. . .and she was taking all of it with her"—this poetry is bright red, and the poet has firmly in her sights nothing less than everything. 
                                                                         —Phil Dacey




Read Karla's poem featured in Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry
Read Karla's Pushcart winner "Theory of Lipstick" at Blogalicious, with Q&A and video