Titles in RED were books awarded Beltway Poetry Quarterly‘s Ten Best Books of 2019 (Plus Two Anthologies):
Elizabeth Acevedo, With the Fire on High (novel, Harper Collins)
Rachel Cloud Adams, Space and Road (chapbook, Semiperfect Press)
Lauren K. Alleyne, Honeyfish (New Issues Press)
Megan Alpert, The Animal at Your Side (Airlie Press)
Indran Amirthanayagam, Coconuts on Mars (Poetrywalla)
Indran Amirthanayagam, En busco de posada (Apogeo Editorial)
Francisco Aragón, His Tongue a Swath of Sky (chapbook, Momotombito Press)
Ned Balbo, The Cylburn Touch-Me-Nots (Criterion Books)
Oliver Baez Bendorf, The Gospel According to X (chapbook, Seven Kitchens Press)
Oliver Baez Bendorf, Advantages of Being Evergreen (Cleveland State University Press)
Rose Marie Berger, Bending the Arch (Wipf and Stock Publishers)
Reginald Dwayne Betts, Felon (W.W. Norton)
Sylvia Dianne Beverly, Forever in Your Eyes (AuthorHouse)
David Biespiel, Republic Cafe (University of Washington Press)
Star Black, The Popular Vote (Saturnalia Books)
Richard Blanco, How to Love a Country (Beacon Press)
Linda Blaskey, White Horses (Mojave River Press)
Linda Blaskey, Gail Braune Comorat, Jane C. Miller, and Wendy Ingersoll, Walking the Sunken Boards (poetry collaboration, Pond Road Press)
Jody Bolz, The Near and Far (Turning Point Books)
Judith Bowles, Unlocatable Source (Turning Point Books)
Derrick Weston Brown, On All Fronts (chapbook bound with two others, Floodgate Series, Upper Rubber Boot Books)
Roscoe Burnems, God Love Death & Other Synonyms (310 Brown Street)
Joseph J. Capista, Intrusive Beauty (Ohio University Press)
Nancy Naomi Carlson, An Infusion of Violets (Seagull Books/University of Chicago Press)
Ellen Aronofsky Cole, Notes from the Dry Country (Mayapple Press)
Michael C. Davis, Prodigal (New Academia Publishing)
Joanne Rocky Delaplaine, The Local World (WordTech Editions)
Ruth Dickey, Mud Blooms (Harbor Mountain Press)
celeste doaks, American Herstory (chapbook, Backbone Press)
David Ebenbach, Some Unimaginable Animal (Orison Books)
Melanie Figg, Trace (New Rivers Press)
Mark Fitzgerald, Downburst (Cinnamon Press)
Carolyn Forché, What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance (nonfiction, Penguin Books)
t’ai freedom ford, & more black (Augury Books)
Tyler French, He Told Me (Capturing Fire Press)
Katherine Gekker, In Search of Warm Breathing Things (Glass Lyre Press)
Brian Gilmore, come see about me, marvin (Wayne State University Press)
Michael S. Glaser, The Threshold of Light (chapbook, Bright Hill Press)
Landon Godfrey, Inventory of Doubts (Tupelo Press)
Barbara Goldberg, Transformation (poetry in translation, essays; Poets Choice Publishing)
Christine Gosnay, The Wanderer (chapbook, Beloit Poetry Journal)
Sandy Green, Lot for Sale. No Pigs (chapbook, BatCat Press)
Kirsten Hampton, The Ocean Cannot Be Blue (Turning Point)
Joy Harjo, An American Sunrise (W.W. Norton)
Clarinda Harriss, Innumerable Moons (Beignet Books)
Anne Higgins, Not Only/But Also (Duck Lake Books)
Emily Holland, Lineage (chapbook, Dancing Girl Press)
Ruth Holzer, A Face in the Crowd: Ghazals (chapbook, Kelsay Books)
Reuben Jackson, Scattered Clouds (Alan Squire Publishing)
Richard Eric Johnson, Watching Angels Dance by Candlelight (Loose Moose Publishing)
Elizabeth Knapp, Requiem with an Amulet in its Beak (WWPH)
Alysse Knorr, Ballast (chapbook, Seven Kitchens Press)
Christopher Kondrich, Valuing (University of Georgia Press)
Beth Konkoski, Water Shedding (chapbook, Finishing Line Press)
Lidia Kosk, Meadows of Memory, Poems and Prose, translated and edited by Danuta E. Kosk-Kosicka (Apprentice House Press)
Ilja Kostovski, translated from Macedonian to English by Donald Hitchcock and Jack Herschman, Sisyphus and I (Plamen Press)
Gerry LaFemina, Points South (chapbook, Hysterical Books)
Hailey Leithauser, Saint Worm (Able Muse Press)
Mike Maggio, Letters from Inside (short fiction, Vine Leaves Press)
Sally Wen Mao, Oculus (Graywolf Press)
Sami Miranda, We Is (Zozobra Publishing)
Toni Morrison, The Source of Self Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations (nonfiction, Knopf)
Toni Morrison, Goodness and the Literary Imagination (nonfiction, University of Virginia Press)
G. H. Mosson, Family Snapshot as a Poem in Time (chapbook, Finishing Line Press)
Tanya Olson, Stay (Yes Yes Books)
Mark Opsasnick, Rock the Potomac: Popular Music and Early-Era Rock and Roll in the Washington, DC Area (nonfiction, Booklocker)
Gregory Orr, The Last Love Poem I Will Ever Write (W.W. Norton)
Kathleen O’Toole, This Far (Paraclete Press)
Jose Padua, A Short History of Monsters (University of Arkansas Press)
Eric Pankey, Owl of Minerva (Milkweed Editions)
Richard Peabody, Guinness on the Quay (Salmon Poetry)
Gretchen Primack, Visiting Days (Willow Books)
Heidi Reszies, Of Water and Other Soft Constructions (Anhinga Press)
Seema Reza, A Constellation of Half-Lives (Write Bloody)
Dwaine Rieves, Shirtless Men Drink Free (novel, Tupelo Press)
William Rivera, Wishbone Voices (chapbook, Finishing Line Press)
Karen Sagstetter, Commotion (Finishing Line Press)
David Salner, The Stillness of Certain Valleys (Broadstone Books)
Gregg Shapiro, More Poems About Buildings and Food (chapbook, Souvenir Spoon Books)
Gregg Shapiro, Sunshine State (chapbook, Night Ballet Press)
Aurelie Sheehan, Once Into the Night (flash fiction, Fiction Collective 2)
Charles Simic, Come Closer and Listen (Ecco Press)
R.T. Smith, Summoning Shades (Mercer University Press)
Susan Sonde, The Arsonist (Main Street Rag Publishing)
Gary Stein, Touring the Shadow Factory (Brick Road Poetry Press)
Nomi Stone, Kill Class (Tupelo Press)
Susan Tichy, The Avalanche Path in Summer (Ahsahta Press)
Sally Higgins Toner, Anansi and Friends (chapbook, Finishing Line Press)
Philip Wexler, The Sad Parade (Adelaide Books)
Kevin Wiggins, Port of Exit (chapbook, Day Eight)
Kathi Wolfe, Love and Kumquats (BrickHouse Books)
Sarah Yerkes, Days of Blue and Flame (Passager Books)
Sally Zakariya, The Unknowable Mystery of Other People (chapbook, Poetry Box)
Sally Zakariya, Muslim Wife (chapbook, part of 3 chapbooks bound together as Delphi Volume VII, Blue Lyra Press)
Burgi Zenhaeusern, Behind Normalcy (chapbook, CityLit Press)
Bay to Ocean 2019: The Year’s Best Writing from the Eastern Shore Writers Association, ed. Gregg Wilhelm. Contributors include: Bob Balestri, Shirley J. Brewer, Walter F. Curran, Irene Flick, Frank E. Hopkins, Claire McCabe, Sarah McGregor, Jeffrey Scott (anthology Eastern Shore Writers Assn.)
A Constellation of Kisses, ed. Diane Lockward. Contributors include: Kim Addonizio, Nin Andrews, Geraldine Connelly, Jeffrey Harrison, Grey Jacobik, Tim Seibles, Terence Winch (anthology, Terrapin Books)
The Eloquent Poem, ed. Elise Paschen. Contributors include: Cynthia Atkins, Sandra Beasley, Oliver Baez Bendorf, Molly McCully Brown, Michael Collier, Billy Collins, Cornelius Eady, Calvin Forbes, Cynthia Marie Hoffman, Erika Meitner, Stanley Plumly, Mary Jo Salter, Ravi Shankar, Lisa Russ Spaar, Elizabeth Spires (anthology, Persea Books)
Endlessly Rocking: A Whitman Celebration, ed. Stan Galloway and Nicole Yurcaba. Contributors include: Sarah Browning, Henry Crawford, J. Indigo Eriksen, Chris Farago, Patricia Gray, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Henry Hart, Derek Kannemeyer, Sarah Kennedy, Yahia Lababidi, Gerry LaFemina, Hiram Larew, Mike Maggio, Kevin J. McDaniel, Seth Michelson, David B. Prather, Kim Roberts, Ron Smith, Sally Toner, Anne Harding Woodworth, Ed Zahniser (anthology, Unbound Content)
Firsts: 100 Years of Yale Younger Poets, ed. Carl Phillips. Contributors include: Carolyn Forche, Robert Hass, Daniel Hoffman, Peter Klappert, William Meredith, W.S. Merwin, Peter Streckfus, Edward Weismiller (anthology, Yale University Press)
Here: Poems for the Planet, ed. Elizabeth J. Coleman. Contributors include: Francisco Aragon, James Arthur, Kyle G. Dargan, Nikki Giovanni, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Paul Guest, Nor Gur-Arie, Joy Harjo, Robert Hass, Pablo Medina, W.S. Merwin, Natasha Saje, Tim Seibles, Tracy K. Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Charles Wright (anthology, Copper Canyon Press)
Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience, ed. Patrice Vecchione and Alyssa Raymond. Contributors include: Elizabeth Acevedo, JoAnn Balingit, Safia Elhillo, Tarfia Faizullah (anthology for young readers, Triangle Square Books)
Lessons of Life: Wisdom from an Ageless Generation by Writers Group of Leisure World. Contributors include: Denise Barker, Marion Bedell, Gladys Blank, Grace Cooper, Verna Denny, Joanie Friedlander, Lee Hardy, Jane Hawes, Carlos Montorfano, Danuta Montorfano, Radha Pillai, Anne Doherty Rinn, Woody Shields, Viola Stendardi, Bobbie Troy (anthology, Lulu)
Local News: Poetry About Small Towns, ed. Tom Montag and David Graham. Contributors include: Geraldine Connolly, Tara A. Elliott, Kathleen Hellen, Ted Kooser, Gregory Luce, Charles Rossiter, Naomi Thiers, Davi Walders (anthology, MWPH Books)
Lovejets: Queer Male Poets on 200 Years of Walt Whitman, ed. Raymond Luczak. Contributors include: Robert L. Giron, Jeff Mann, Gregg Shapiro, Walt Whitman (Squares and Rebels Press)
“This Mighty Convulsion”: Whitman and Melville Write the Civil War, ed. Christopher Sten and Tyler Hoffman (nonfiction, University of Iowa Press)
The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall: Poems at the Extremes of Feeling, ed. Robert Pinsky. Contributors include: Elizabeth Bishop, Louise Bogan, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sterling A. Brown, Rita Dove, Louise Gluck, Robert Hayden, W.S. Merwin, John Murillo, Tracy K. Smith, Mark Strand, Natasha Trethewey, Joshua Weiner, Walt Whitman (anthology, W.W. Norton)
The Music of the Aztecs: Poets of the DC Magic Theater Poetry Club, ed. David B. Churchill. Contributors include: Reid Baron, Alan Britt, Annie Finch, Ethan Goffman, John MacDonald, Jan Claire Starkey, Marianne Szlyk (anthology, Pony One Dog Press)
RESPECT: The Poetry of Detroit Music, ed. M.L. Liebler and Jim Daniels. Contributors include: Toi Derricotte, Rita Dove, Cornelius Eady, Brian Gilmore, Nikki Giovanni, Robert Hayden, Philip Levine (anthology, Michigan State University Press)
The Skinny Poetry Anthology, ed. Truth Thomas. Contributors include: Karren LaLonde Alenier, Matt Borczon, Ingrid Bruck, Jeffrey Lamar Coleman, Jaime “Shaggy” Flores, Brian Gilmore, Regina Guarino, Le Hinton, Gregory Luce, Jen Schneider, Naomi Thiers, Anne Harding Woodworth. (anthology, Cherry Castle Publishing)
Such Friends as These: The Surrey Street Poets. ed. Henry Crawford, Renee Gherity, and Betsy Burke. Contributors include: Judith Bowles, Joanne Rocky Delaplaine, Majda Gama, Margi Grady, Betsy Holleman, Leah Johnson, David Keplinger, Dennis M. Kirschbaum, Meghan O’Connell, Ann A. Philips, Ellen Sazzman, Amy Young (anthology; Lulu)
Theory and Praxis: Women’s and Gender Studies at Community Colleges, ed. Genevieve Carminati and Heather Rellihan. Contributors include: Richard E. Otten, Esther Schwartz-McKinzie, Grace Sikorski (nonfiction anthology, Gival Press)
“This Mighty Convulsion”: Whitman and Melville Write the Civil War, ed. Christopher Sten and Tyler Hoffman (nonfiction, University of Iowa Press)
War Memoranda: Photography, Walt Whitman, and Memorials, by Binh Danh and Robert Schultz. With essays by Barbara Bair, David Lehman, Stanley Plumly and Molly Rogers (Taubman Museum of Art, 2019)
We Are Not Your Metaphor: A Disability Poetry Anthology, ed. Zoeglossia Fellows. Contributors include Kathi Wolfe and Raymond Luczak. (anthology, Squares and Rebels Press)
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, ed. Richard Peabody. Contributors include: Linda Blaskey, Jamie Brown, Nancy Naomi Carlson, Barbara Esstman, Gerry LaFemina, Miles David Moore, Meredith Pond, Rose Solari, Katherine E. Young, Ed Zahniser (anthology, Paycock Press)
What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump, ed. Martin Espada. Contributors include: Elizabeth Alexander, Naomi Ayala, Richard Blanco, Tarfia Faizullah, Carolyn Forche, Donald Hall, Juan Felipe Herrera, E. Ethelbert Miller, John Murillo, Robert Pinsky, Joseph Ross, Tim Seibles (anthology, Curbstone Press)
Why I Like This Story, ed. Jackson R. Bryer. Contributors include: Richard Bausch, Ann Beattie, Maud Casey, Susan Coll, Joyce Reiser Kornblatt, Howard Norman, Leslie Pietrzyk, Mary Kay Zuravleff (nonfiction anthology, Camden House Books)
You Can Hear the Ocean, ed. Gene Hult. Contributors include: Joseph Auslander, Lucinda Marshall, Ezra Pound, Walt Whitman (anthology, Brighten Press)