NOTE: Titles listed in red are Beltway Poetry Quarterly‘s picks for the Ten Best Books of 2016. We have highlighted two additional Best Anthologies of the Year.
Elizabeth Acevedo, Beastgirl and Other Origin Myths (chapbook, Yes Yes Books)
Kim Addonizio, Mortal Trash: Poems (W.W. Norton)
Kim Addonizio, Bukowski in a Sundress (memoir, Penguin Books)
Karren LaLonde Alenier, The Anima of Paul Bowles (MadHat Press)
Kwame Alexander, Booked (novel-in-verse for children, HMH Books)
Luis Alberto Ambroggio, Todos somos Whitman/We Are All Whitman (In Spanish and English translations by Brett Alan Sanders, Arte Publico Press)
Jennifer Atkinson, The Thinking Eye (Parlor Press)
Ned Balbo, Upcycling Paumanok (Measure Press)
Amiri Baraka, SOS: Poems 1961 – 2013 (Grove Press)
Oliver Baez Bendorf, Top Surgery (illustrated chapbook, Oliver Baez Bendorf)
Rose Marie Berger, A Letter to Judge Wynn: Meditations on Breaking the Law (digital chapbook, Bottomless Cup Press)
C.L. Bledsoe, Man of Clay (novella, Main Street Rag)
C.L. Bledsoe, Trashcans in Love (Ghoti Fish Press)
C.L. Bledsoe, Ray’s Sea World (flash fiction, Ghoti Fish Press)
Diana Smith Bolton, Just Universes (chapbook, Lines + Stars Press)
Donald Britton, In the Empire of the Air: The Poems of Donald Britton, ed. Philip Clark and Reginald Shepherd (Nightboat Books)
Bro Yao (Hoke S. Glover III), Inheritance (Willow Books)
T.E. Brooks, Heroism, Humility, and Honor: Poems to Thank You (Learn2Succeed Publishing)
Grace Cavalieri, With (Somondoco Press)
Wing-chi Chan, Mass for Nanking’s 1937 (chapbook, New Academia Publishing)
Rene Char, translated by Nancy Naomi Carlson, Hammer with No Master (Tupelo Press)
Marlena Chertock, On That One-Way Trip to Mars (chapbook, Bottlecap Press)
Cheryl Clarke, By My Precise Haircut (The Word Works)
Teri Ellen Cross Davis, Haint (Gival Press)
J.K. Daniels, Wedding Pulls (Hub City Press)
Hayes Davis, Let Our Eyes Linger (Poetry Mutual)
Wendy DeGroat, Beautiful Machinery (chapbook, Headmistress Press)
Tom Donlan, Peregrin (chapbook, Franciscan University Press)
Jessica Lynn Dotson, Time Trials (chapbook, L+S Press)
Rita Dove, Collected Poems: 1974-2004 (W.W. Norton)
John Elsberg, Not Quite Ocean: Selected Poems, compiled by Connie Elsberg (Paycock Press)
Sean Enright, The Intelligence Officer Prepares to Enter Heaven (CreateSpace)
Julie R. Enszer, Avowed (Sibling Rivalry Press)
Laura Fargas, The Green of Ordinary Time (Washington Writers Publishing House)
Khaled Fayyad, Love and Promise (poetry and nonfiction, iUniverse)
Tenim Fruchter, I Wanted Just To Be Soft (chapbook, Anomalous Press)
Martin Galvin, Away to Home: New and Selected Poems (Poet’s Choice)
Dana Gioia, 99 Poems: New and Selected (Graywolf Press)
Joshua Gray, Symposium (Red Dashboard)
Consuelo Hernández, Mi reino sin orillas (in Spanish, Ediciones Torremozas)
Juan Felipe Herrera, The Roots of a Thousand Embraces: Dialogues (Manic D Press)
Donald Illich, The Art of Dissolving (chapbook, Finishing Line Press)
Gray Jacobik, The Banquet: New & Selected Poems (Poets’ Choice)
Andrew Jarvis, Landslide (Homebound Publications)
Carol Jennings, The Dead Spirits at the Piano (Cherry Grove Collections)
Alan King, Point Blank (Silver Birch Press)
Alysse Knorr, Mega-City Redux (Green Mountains Review Press)
Yahia Lababidi, Balancing Acts: New & Selected Poems (Press 53)
Michael Lally, The Village Sonnets: 1959-1962 (Word Palace Press)
Susan Landers, Franklinstein (Roof Books)
Hiram Larew, Utmost (I. Giraffe Press)
Blume Lempel, Oedipus in Brooklyn and Other Stories, translated from Yiddish by Ellen Cassedy and Yermiyahu Ahron Taub (fiction, Mandel Vilar Press/Dryad Press)
Phillis Levin, Mr. Memory & Other Poems (Penguin)
Larry Levis, The Darkening Trapeze: Last Poems (Graywolf Press)
Gregory Luce, Tile (chapbook, Finishing Line Press)
M. Mack, Theater of Parts (Sundress Publications)
David McAleavey, Rock Taught (Broadkill River Press)
Mark McMorris, The Book of Landings (Wesleyan University Press)
E. Ethelbert Miller, The The Collected Poems of E. Ethelbert Miller, ed. Kirsten Porter (Willow Books)
Shauna M. Morgan, Fear of Dogs & Other Animals (Central Square Press)
Henry Morganthau III, A Sunday in Purgatory (Passager Books)
Andrew Mossin, Exile’s Recital (Spuyten Duyvil Press)
Jean Nordhaus, Memos from the Broken World (Mayapple Press)
Lalita Noronha, The Mustard Seed (Apprentice House)
Fan Ogilvie, Easiness Found: Poems and Paintings (Fan Staunton Ogilvie Robin Enterprises)
The Complete Works of Pat Parker, ed. Julie R. Enszer, (Sapphic Classics Series)
Diane Wilbon Parks, The Wisdom of Blue Apples (Diane Wilbon Parks)
Pamela Passaretta, Dreams and Consequences (chapbook, Poets on the Fringe)
Richard Peabody, Night Golf (fiction chapbook, Doctor T.J. Eckleburg Review)
Stanley Plumly, Against Sunset (W.W. Norton & Co.)
Elizabeth Poliner, As Close to Us As Breathing (novel, Lee Boudreaux Books/Little Brown)
Seema Reza, When the World Breaks Open (memoir, Red Hen Press)
Elisavietta Ritchie, Babushka’s Beads: A Geography of Genes (Poets’ Choice)
Elisavietta Ritchie, Reflections: Paintings & Poems from a Poet’s Gallery (Poet’s Choice)
Maritza Rivera, aka Mariposa, Blackjack Poetry Playing Cards (deck of cards with a poem printed on each, Casa Mariposa Press)
W.M. Rivera, Noise! (Broadkill River Press)
W.M. Rivera, Cafe Select (Poets Choice)
Maggie Rosen, The Deliberate Speed of Ghosts (chapbook, Red Bird Chapbooks)
Michael Salcman, A Prague Spring, Before & After (Evening Street Press)
Gregg Shapiro, How to Whistle (short fiction, Lethe Press)
Gregg Shapiro, Fifty Degrees (chapbook, Seven Kitchens Press)
Nakym Sheffield, Admire My Style (Page Publishing)
Laura Shovan, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary (novel-in-verse for youth, Wendy Lamb Books/Random House)
Scot Slaby, Bugs Us All (chapbook with drawings by Walter Gurbo, Entasis Press)
Edna Small, Listening Still (Hartley-Wildman Publishing)
Clint Smith, Counting Descent (Write Bloody)
J.D. Smith, The Killing Tree (Finishing Line Press)
Katherine Soniat, Bright Stranger (Louisiana State University Press)
Jeneva Burroughs Stone, Monster (essays and poems, Phoenicia Publishing)
Barrett Warner, Why Is It So Hard to Kill You? (Somondoco Press)
Joshua Weiner, Berlin Notebook (nonfiction e-book, Los Angeles Review of Books)
Francisco-Luis White, found them (chapbook, CreateSpace)
Anne Harding Woodworth, The Last Gun (chapbook, Cervená Barva Press)
Jahleen Wright, Cycle of Being (Islandgirlpoetry)
Ed Zahniser, At the End of the Self-Help Rope (New Academia/Scarith)
Sally Zakariya, When You Escape (chapbook, Five Oaks Press)
Stephen Zerance, Caligula’s Playhouse (chapbook, Mason Jar Press)
Abundant Grace: Short Fiction by DC Area Women, ed. Richard Peabody. Contributors include: Shirley Graves Cochran, Jessica Claire Haney, Joanna Howard, Kelly Ann Jacobson, Sinta Jimenez, Dini Karasik, Barbara F. Lefcowitz, Nicole Miller, Tanya Olson, Abby Mei Otis, Atossa Shafaie, Morowa Yejide (anthology, Paycock Press)
Borderlands and Crossroads: Writing the Motherland, ed. Jane Satterfield and Laurie Kruk. Contributors include: Betsy Boyd, Pauline Kaldas, Marilyn Moriarity, Lesley Wheeler (anthology, Demeter Press)
Candlesticks and Daggers: An Anthology of Mixed-Genre Mysteries, ed. Kelly Ann Jacobson. Contributors include: Cathy Alter, Jacquelyn Bengfort, Danielle Davis, Joel Goldberg, Gregory Luce, Edward Perlman, Julia Tagliere, Tim Wendel (anthology of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, Create Space)
Conversations with Lucille: A Second Voices Memorial Tribute to Lucille Clifton, ed. Michael S. Glaser (nonfiction anthology, St. Mary’s College of Maryland Press)
The Crafty Poet II: A Portable Workshop, ed. Diane Lockward. Contributors include: Toi Derricotte, Kim Roberts, Terence Winch (craft book and anthology, Terrapin Books)
The Doll Collection, ed Diane Lockward. Contributors include: Kelly Cherry, Geraldine Connolly, Meredith Davies Hadaway, Jeffrey Harrison, Kim Roberts (anthology, Terrapin Books)
Full: An Anthology of Moon Poems, ed. Leigh Anne Hornfeldt and Teneice Durrant. Contributors include: Sarah Browning, Kelly Cherry, Ellen Hagan, Kim Roberts, Sarah Anne Winn. (anthology, Two of Cups Press)
Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands, ed. ire’ne lara silva and Dan Vera (nonfiction anthology, Aunt Lute Books)
Monticello in Mind: Fifty Contemporary Poets on Jefferson, ed. Lisa Russ Spaar. Contributors include: Jennifer Chang, Lucille Clifton, Michael Collier, Stephen Cushman, Rita Dove, Claudia Emerson, Thorpe Moeckel, Ravi Shankar, R.T. Smith, Natasha Trethewey (anthology, University of Virginia Press).
The Next Verse Poets Mixtape, Vol. One: the 4×4, featuring Melanie Henderson, Fred Joiner, Lisa Pegram, and Enzo Silon Surin (limited edition audio anthology, Central Square Press)
Of Poetry and Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin, ed. Phil Cushway and Michael Warr. Contributors include: Elizabeth Alexander, Amiri Baraka, Rita Dove, Reginald Harris, Haki Madhubuti, E. Ethelbert Miller, Tim Seibles, Natasha Trethewey (anthology of poems, essays and photographs, W.W. Norton)
The Orison Anthology, Vol. 1, 2016, ed. Luke Hawkins, Nathan Poole, and Karen Tucker. Includes Beltway Poetry Quarterly’s nomination, “Kingdom of Heaven” by Katherine E. Young, as well as work by Shevaun Brannigan, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Vandana Khanna, and Bruno Nelson. Other nominating journals include The American Scholar and 32 Poems.
Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice, ed. Francisco X. Alarcón and Odilia Galván Rodriguez. Contributors include: Francisco Aragón, Sarah Browning, Susan Deer Cloud. (anthology, University of Arizona Press)
The Poet’s Quest for God: 21st Century Poems of Faith, Doubt and Wonder, ed. Oliver Brennan & Todd Swift. Contributors include; Carmen Calatayud, John Goslee, Yahia Lababidi, Phillis Levin, Miles David Moore, Rose Solari, Elizabeth Spires (anthology, Eyewear Publishing)
Rabbit Ears: TV Poems, ed. Joel Allegretti. Contributors include: Regie Cabico, celeste doaks, Gerry LaFemina, Ravi Shankar (anthology, NYQ Books)
Resisting Arrest, ed. Tony Medina. Contributors include: Tara Betts, Jane Alberdeston Coralin, Abdul Ali, Derrick Weston Brown, Joel Dias-Porter, Cornelius Eady, Brian Gilmore, Niki Herd, Esther Iverem, Reuben Jackson, Kim Roberts, Venus Thrash. (anthology, Jacar Press)
Still Life with Poem: Contemporary Natures Mortes in Verse, ed. Jehanne Dubrow and Lindsay Lusby. Contributors include: Sandra Beasley, Tara Betts, James Allen Hall, Metta Sama (anthology, The Literary House Press)
Unrequited: An Anthology of Love Poems to Inanimate Objects, ed. Kelly Ann Jacobson. Contributors include: Isaac James Baker, Jacquelyn Bengfort, Melanie Bikowski, Sass Brown, Danielle Evennou, Kate Horowitz, Jacqueline Jules, Sarah Lilius, Gregory Luce, Neelam Patel, Ed Perlman, Julia Rocchi, Terrence Sykes, Pamela Murray Winters (anthology, CreateSpace).
Veils, Halos & Shackles: International Poetry on the Oppression and Empowerment of Women, ed. Charles Adès Fishman and Smita Sahay. Contributors include: Ned Balbo, Roberta Beary, Jehanne Dubrow, Meg Eden, Barbara Goldberg, John Guzlowski, Linda Pastan, Jane Satterfield, Ravi Shankar, Myra Sklarew, Naomi Thiers (anthology, Kasva Press).