The Good Stuff

poetry + indie bookstores = joy

A small sampling of new poetry releases I’ve enjoyed (and yes, my dining room centerpiece this time of year is a row of LEGO Christmas houses)

Hi, Friend.

I just finished teaching a fall craft class with Danusha Laméris—four virtual sessions, once a week—and in the last session, we talked about how essential poetry feels right now, and what a wonderful gift it makes for the holidays. Even if your friends and loved ones aren’t “poetry people” (yet!), there’s something for everyone. Poetry is like music in this way: Plenty of people may say they don’t like country or jazz, but no one just doesn't like music. We just have to find what speaks to us.

This poem by Ellen Bass has been speaking to me this week. Maybe you need it, too?

As you might imagine, independent bookstores really depend on holiday sales, and this is a great time of year to shop independently instead of at the enormous online retailers (who don’t need your money, frankly). You can even use that site that won’t be named to find titles and make a wish list, and then take that list of books to your local indie and buy from them instead. If you don’t have an indie or a brick-and-mortar chain bookstore near you, check out Bookshop.org, which gives a portion of its profits to independent bookstores.

To get you started, in case you’re looking for recommendations, here are some of my favorite poetry books from 2024, plus a couple of books coming out in 2025, including a craft book by yours truly. I love preordering books as holiday gifts, and giving a card that tells the recipient what title(s) they’ll be receiving and when. That with some dark chocolate, coffee, or tea? Instant holiday hero.

Outside the Joy by Ruth Away
Songs for the Land-Bound by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza
Instructions for Traveling West by Joy Sullivan
A History of Half-Birds by Caroline Harper New
I Love Hearing Your Dreams by Matthew Zapruder
A Walk with Frank O’Hara by Susan Aizenberg
The New Life by Wendy Wisner
Blade by Blade by Danusha Laméris
You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, edited by Ada Limón
Candy by Dan Albergotti
Scorched Earth by Tiana Clark (preorder)
Soon and Wholly by Idra Novey
Invitatory by Molly Spencer
Here to Stay, edited by the Undocupoets
Life on Earth by Dorianne Laux
Modern Poetry by Dianne Seuss
Bluff by Danez Smith
With My Back to the World by Victoria Chang
Moving the Bones by Rick Barot
Exploding Head by Cynthia Marie Hoffman
Spectral Evidence by Gregory Pardlo
Dear Writer by…me (preorder)

And here are just some of the wonderful independent bookstores I’ve visited around the country, many of which have websites that allow you to order books to be shipped to you, wherever you live. This is very short list, so please shout out your favorite local indies in the comments!

Gramercy Books, Bexley OH*
Women & Children First, Chicago IL
Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor MI
Books Are Magic, Brooklyn NY
Boswell Books Company, Milwaukee WI
White Whale Bookstore, Pittsburgh PA
Parnassus Books, Nashville TN
Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle WA
Book Passage, Corte Madera CA
Brookline Booksmith, Brookline MA
Magers & Quinn Booksellers, Minneapolis MN
Rainy Day Books, Kansas City MO
Vroman’s Bookstore, Pasadena CA
Politics and Prose, Washington DC
Beacon Hill Books, Boston MA
Green Apple Books, San Francisco CA
Powell’s, Portland OR

*My own neighborhood bookstore, Gramercy Books, allows you to order signed and personalized copies of my books—including Dear Writer—and they’ll ship to you anywhere in the continental US. I love walking down to Gramercy to sign books and make them out to the people you care about most: friends, kids and grandkids, teachers, neighbors. So please know that’s an option this holiday season! The folks at Gramercy—and I—appreciate your support.

Happy reading (& book shopping)—
Maggie