From the National Book Critics Circle Award–winning poet and critic: “A lovely book, full of joy and wisdom.” —The Baltimore Sun How to Read a Poem is an unprecedented exploration of poetry, feeling, and human nature. In language at once acute and emotional, Edward Hirsch describes why poetry matters and how we can open up our imaginations so that its message can make a difference. In a marvelous reading of verse from around the world, including work by Pablo Neruda, Elizabeth Bishop, Wallace Stevens, and Sylvia Plath, among many others, Hirsch discovers the true meaning of their words and ideas and brings their sublime message home into our hearts. “Hirsch has gathered an eclectic group of poems from many times and places, with selections as varied as postwar Polish poetry, works by Keats and Christopher Smart, and lyrics from African American work songs . . . Hirsch suggests helpful strategies for understanding and appreciating each poem. The book is scholarly but very readable and incorporates interesting anecdotes from the lives of the poets.” —Library Journal “The answer Hirsch gives to the question of how to read a poem is: Ecstatically.” —Boston Book Review “Hirsch’s magnificent text is supported by an extensive glossary and superb international reading list.” —Booklist “If you are pretty sure you don’t like poetry, this is the book that’s bound to change your mind.” —Charles Simic, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The World Doesn’t End

The late feminist icon and author of over twenty books, including her classic New York Times bestseller All About Love, bell hooks reminds us of the good and bad moments we spend in love through her inspiring poetry. Written from the heart, When Angels Speak of Love is a book of 50 love poems by the icon of the feminist movement and most famous among public intellectuals. In beautiful, profoundly poetic terms, hooks challenges our views and experiences with love—tracing the link between seduction and surrender, the intensity of desire, and the anguish of death. Whether towards family, friends, or oneself, hooks's creative genius makes love both magical and beautiful.

Climbing the Ladder to Love is a story about Ruby and her experience with what love is. She torments herself thinking that her life is not complete without a man and it is at the moment that she finds the man of her dream-so she thinks. Ruby is educated, intelligent and fun loving. On top of that, she is successful and a great parent. Through all of her happiness, her struggle is basically Why can't I find the perfect man? So she climbs the ladder of love looking for the answers to this question.

Alex Dimitrov’s third book, Love and Other Poems, is full of praise for the world we live in. Taking time as an overarching structure—specifically, the twelve months of the year—Dimitrov elevates the everyday, and speaks directly to the reader as if the poem were a phone call or a text message. From the personal to the cosmos, the moon to New York City, the speaker is convinced that love is “our best invention.” Dimitrov doesn’t resist joy, even in despair. These poems are curious about who we are as people and shamelessly interested in hope.

This collection is a beautifully crafted exploration of life in the Texas-Mexico borderlands. Written by Norma Elia Cantú, the award-winning author of Canícula, this collection carries the perspective of a powerful force in Chicana literature—and literature worldwide. The poems are a celebration of culture, tradition, and creativity that navigates themes of love, solidarity, and political transformation. Deeply personal yet warmly relatable, these poems flow from Spanish to English gracefully. With Gloria Anzaldúa’s foundational work as an inspiration, Meditación Fronteriza unveils unique images that provide nuance and depth to the narrative of the borderlands. Poems addressed to talented and influential women such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Adrienne Rich, among others, pour gratitude and recognition into the collection. While many of the poems in Meditación Fronteriza are gentle and inviting, there are also moments that grieve for the state of the borderlands, calling for political resistance.

Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, celebrates love in her new collection of poems "If I have any secret stash of poems, anywhere, it might be about love, not anger," Mary Oliver once said in an interview. Finally, in her stunning new collection, Felicity, we can immerse ourselves in Oliver’s love poems. Here, great happiness abounds. Our most delicate chronicler of physical landscape, Oliver has described her work as loving the world. With Felicity she examines what it means to love another person. She opens our eyes again to the territory within our own hearts; to the wild and to the quiet. In these poems, she describes—with joy—the strangeness and wonder of human connection. As in Blue Horses, Dog Songs, and A Thousand Mornings, with Felicity Oliver honors love, life, and beauty.

“I see now that no person who has ever loved has ever been spared from tears. Tears of joy and tears of sorrow. Of the most intimate union and of letting go.” Poignant, timeless and true. This book is a personal collection of poems about love and letting go. Whether it be a newfound love, a love that endures a lifetime, or a love that will soon be saying goodbye, one can find in these pages something like a mirror that tells the story of one’s own heart. Are you in sorrow because of a broken heart? Are you in grief because your are mourning the death of a loved one? Dying is painful, but so is the loss of a love that broke your heart. Yet in all these, if one has loved true, one has found meaning in life. Healing is never far away for as long as hope is kept alive in one’s heart. Let these poems of love comfort you, inspire you and remind you of the beauty of love. To love is to be rapt in bliss, to be torn asunder and to be healed and made whole again.