Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World

"The poems collected in this anthology ask essential questions about how to thrive in a complicated world, about how to love when life hasn't been easy," Ó Tuama writes in his preface to this sensitive anthology that builds on his podcast of the same name. Offering keen reflections on poems by Margaret Atwood, Ilya Kaminsky, Ada Limón, and Ocean Vuong, Ó Tuama juxtaposes critical insights with appealing personal anecdotes ("There are poems I repeat to myself, almost like a hum, or a prayer, or a spell," he writes, elsewhere noting, "The first poem I wrote was an idiotic one about a ten-foot dog. I was twelve."). The book's epigraph borrows lines from "Consider the Hands that Write This Letter" by Aracelis Girmay, a poem also included in the collection: "I pray for this to be my way: sweet/ work alluded to in the body's position to its paper: / left hand, right hand/ like an open eye, an eye closed: / one hand flat against the trapdoor, / the other hand knocking, knocking." Ó Tuama has succeeded in organizing a valuable introduction to poetry for those just familiarizing themselves with the form, and a timely way to renew and deepen that appreciation for seasoned readers. (Dec.)

Pádraig Ó Tuama's close reading of my 'Wonder Woman' poem was a gift. I was and am deeply moved.—Ada Limón, United States Poet Laureate