2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST FOR POETRY Eschewing series and performative typography, Douglas Kearney’s Sho aims to hit crooked licks with straight-seeming sticks. Navigating the complex penetrability of language, these poems are sonic in their espousal of Black vernacular traditions, while examining histories, pop culture, myth, and folklore. Both dazzling and devastating, Sho is a genius work of literary precision, wordplay, farce, and critical irony. In his “stove-like imagination,” Kearney has concocted poems that destabilize the spectacle, leaving looky-loos with an important uncertainty about the intersection between violence and entertainment.

One of the Greatest Poems in American Literature Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was considered by many to be one of the most important American poets of all time. He had a profound influence on all those who came after him. “Song of Myself”, a portion of Whitman’s monumental poetry collection “Leaves of Grass”, is one of his most beloved poems. It was through this moving piece that Whitman first made himself known to the world. One of the most acclaimed of all American poems, it is written in Whitman’s signature free verse style, without a regular form, meter, or rhythm. His lines have a mesmerizing chant-like quality, as he sought to make poetry more appealing. Few poems are as fun to read aloud as this one. Considered to be the core of his poetic vision, this poem is an optimistic and inspirational look at the world in 1855. It is exhilarating, epic, and fresh in its brilliant and fascinating diction and wordplay as it tries to capture the unique meaning of words of the day, while also embracing the rapidly evolving vocabularies of the sciences and the streets. Far ahead of its time, it was considered by many social conservatives to be scandalous and obscene for its depiction of sexuality and desire, while at the same time, critics hailed the poem as a modern masterpiece. This first version of “Song of Myself” is far superior to the later versions and will delight readers with the playfulness of its diction as it glorifies the self, body, and soul. “I am large, I contain multitudes,”

Walt Whitman is widely regarded as one of the masters of American poetry. Here are collected his finest poems, a perfect companion for any fan of Whitman's work.

“Sincerely is passionate. Honest. Charming. F. S. Yousaf has beautifully encapsulated in a book what it feels like to fall in love.”—Madisen Kuhn, author of Almost Home Fans of top-selling Sincerely are saying "unexpected perfection", "not your basic poetry book", "breathtaking", "helped me appreciate my marriage". Searching for a profound way to propose to his love, F.S Yousaf reread the letters she had written him. In them he found his proposal, and inspiration to write his own prose and poetry. This is a compilation of letters and love poems that exemplifies the spirituality and the magnitude of how much one person can mean to another. It carries messages of positivity, hope, and most of all, true love.

Decoded is a book like no other: a collection of lyrics and their meanings that together tell the story of a culture, an art form, a moment in history, and one of the most provocative and successful artists of our time. Praise for Decoded “Compelling . . . provocative, evocative . . . Part autobiography, part lavishly illustrated commentary on the author’s own work, Decoded gives the reader a harrowing portrait of the rough worlds Jay-Z navigated in his youth, while at the same time deconstructing his lyrics.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “One of a handful of books that just about any hip hop fan should own.”—The New Yorker “Elegantly designed, incisively written . . . an impressive leap by a man who has never been known for small steps.”—Los Angeles Times “A riveting exploration of Jay-Z’s journey . . . So thoroughly engrossing, it reads like a good piece of cultural journalism.”—The Boston Globe “Shawn Carter’s most honest airing of the experiences he drew on to create the mythic figure of Jay-Z . . . The scenes he recounts along the way are fascinating.”—Entertainment Weekly “Hip-hop’s renaissance man drops a classic. . . . Heartfelt, passionate and slick.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Whitman, we are your epitaph, I and everyone / or better yet, you live in us since you told us / that each atom of your body was also ours, / just as we, like you, are the summer's and all the seasons' grass," Luis Alberto Ambroggio writes in this poetic homage to the great American poet. Ambroggio was inspired to respond to Whitman's work after translating a series of essays about Song of Myself. This collection of 53 poems in English and Spanish is the result. Sometimes he includes a line from the master in his own piece, other times an epigraph introduces the verse. Either way, Whitman's influence is notable. Many of Ambroggio's poems--like Whitman's--deal with physical pleasure: "To stretch myself out on your body. / Outspread myself from head to toes / from earth to sky / from my body to yours, and to other bodies / with libidinous prongs that pierce the horizon / and turn loose seas of bright juice." A native of Argentina, the poet views Whitman's work through his Latin American lens, noting that Whitman's "multitudes" include those who will not be denied, ignored or declared undocumented. Other poems consider nature and death. "We are walking in autumn / among the red lips of maples / the smiles and yellow tears / of trees trembling with joy and sadness," he writes. "We walk between the twin doors / of summer and winter / of death and life." Focusing on themes of identity, love and life, this collection will inspire readers to understand the universality in us all. Ultimately, we will all go to where we came from, "air, shadow, sun, dust." Originally published in Spanish by Vaso Roto Ediciones, this edition includes the original Spanish text and a luminous English translation by Brett Alan Sanders.