The Greatest Poetry Books Since 2000

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
1472 The Beauty Of The Husband Anne Carson 2001 Canadian English
1861 Citizen Claudia Rankine 2014 American English
2167 The Buddha in the Attic Julie Otsuka 2011 American English
2679 H Is For Hawk Helen MacDonald 2014 British English
3217 Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson 2014 American English
3238 The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson 2000 American English
4297 The Emperor's Babe Bernardine Evaristo 2001 British English
4633 Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti 2001 British English
5110 Dancing In Odessa Ilya Kaminsky 2004 Ukrainian English
5388 In Memory Of Memory Maria Stepanova 2017 Russian Russian
5732 In The Presence Of Absence Mahmoud Darwish 2006 Palestinian Arabic
5805 Martyr! Kaveh Akbar 2024 American English
6333 Devotions Mary Oliver 2017 American English
6411 Bluets Maggie Nelson 2009 American English
6420 Collected Poems Dalia Rabikovitch 2009 Israeli Hebrew
6711 Ooga-Booga Frederick Seidel 2006 American English
6841 Rapture Carol Ann Duffy 2005 British English
6984 Sleeping It Off in Rapid City August Kleinzahler 2008 American English
7001 Collected Poems Jack Gilbert 2012 American English
7084 Shape Shifter Hone Tuwhare 2003 New Zealand English
7160 The Poems Of Manolis Anagnostakis Manolis Anagnostakis 2001 Greek Greek
7566 There's Always This Year Hanif Abdurraqib 2024 American English
7586 After Sappho Selby Wynn Schwartz 2023 Unknown English
7622 Dropbear Evelyn Araluen 2021 Australian English
7726 A Worldly Country John Ashbery 2007 American English
7747 Lifted Bill Manhire 2006 New Zealand English
7890 The Dog Star Agneta Pleijel 2023 Swedish Swedish
7893 Playing God Glenn Colquhoun 2002 New Zealand English
7942 Phantom Pain Wings Kim Hye-soon 2019 Korean Korean
7982 Ruahine Ngahuia Te Awekotuku 2003 Unknown English
7983 The Rocky Shore Jenny Bornholdt 2009 New Zealand English
8001 Fragmentos De Un Libro Futuro José Ángel Valente 2000 Spanish Spanish
8144 Walker On Water Kristiina Ehin 2014 Estonian Estonian
8156 Crush Richard Siken 2005 American English
8229 The Rose Of Time Bei Dao 2005 Chinese Chinese
8261 The Poetry Of Thought George Steiner 2011 British English
8397 The Stag's Leap Sharon Olds 2012 American English
8443 Diaries 1959 1971 Alejandra Pizarnik 2003 Argentinian Spanish
8459 The Light of the World Elizabeth Alexander 2015 American English
8503 Collected Poems Jane Kenyon 2005 American English
8652 Jane Maggie Nelson 2005 American English
8705 The Last Books of Hector Viel Temperley Hector Viel Temperley
 2011 Argentinian Spanish
8844 Negative Space Luljeta Lleshanaku 2018 Albanian Albanian
8885 Black and Blur Fred Moten 2017 American English
8951 Time Without Keys Ida Vitale 2019 Uruguayan Spanish
8949 The Wren, The Wren Anne Enright 2023 Irish English
9019 The Message Ta-Nehisi Coates 2024 Unknown Unknown
9054 The Crossover Kwame Alexander 2014 American English
9055 Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes Billy Collins 2000 American English
9160 Haiku Stephen Addiss 2009 Unknown English
9165 A Place Between The Tides Harry Thurston 2004 Canadian English
9227 Poems Jorge Luis Borges 2010 Argentinian Spanish
9311 The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo 2018 American English
9317 Memory Rose Into Threshold Speech Paul Celan 2020 German German
9321 Bright Dead Things Ada Limón 2015 American English
9324 The Butterfly’s Burden Mahmoud Darwish 2007 Palestinian Arabic
9347 Hera Lindsay Bird Hera Lindsay Bird 2016 New Zealand English
9540 Two Cures For Love Wendy Cope 2008 British English
9583 Night Sky With Exit Wounds Ocean Vuong 2016 American English
9595 Písničky Bez Muziky Emanuel Frynta 2010 Czech Czech
9660 F Letter Galina Rymbu, Eugene Ostashevsky, Ainsley Morse 2021 Russian Russian
9660 The Messiah Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock 2012 German German
9716 Eros Is More Juan Antonio González Iglesias 2018 Spanish Spanish
9755 Darkness Spoken Ingeborg Bachmann 2006 Austrian German
9781 A Ghost In The Throat Doireann Ní Ghríofa 2020 Irish English
9802 Blak Work Alison Whittaker 2018 Australian English
9893 Songs Of Kabir Arvind Krishna Mehrotra 2011 Indian Hindi
9960 The Book Of Delights Ross Gay 2019 American English
9959 Songspirals Gay'wu Group of Women 2019 Unknown English
10028 The Iambics Of Newfoundland Robert Finch 2007 Canadian English
10037 Death Takes Me Cristina Rivera Garza 2007 Mexican English
10099 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10138 Change Machine Jaya Savige 2020 Australian English
10215 Iron Moon Qin Xiaoyu 2017 Chinese English
10373 Complete Poems James Weldon Johnson 2000 American English
10385 Human Looking Andy Jackson 2021 Unknown English
10440 Bluff Danez Smith 2024 American English
10454 Finishing The Hat Stephen Sondheim 2010 American English
10489 Until The Lions Karthika Nair 2015 French English
10500 Survival Is A Promise Alexis Pauline Gumbs 2024 Unknown English
10516 Postcolonial Love Poem Natalie Diaz 2020 American English
10539 The Emperor Of Gladness Ocean Vuong 2025 Unknown English
10650 Bread Of Angels Patti Smith 2025 American English
10665 Forest Of Noise Mosab Abu Toha 2024 Unknown English
10670 36 Ways Of Writing A Vietnamese Poem Nam Le 2024 Multiple English
10679 From From Monica Youn 2023 American English
10711 The Lodgers Holly Pester 2024 Unknown English
10766 The Banished Immortal Ha Jin 2019 American English
10829 This Bridge We Call Home Gloria Anzaldúa, AnaLouise Keating 2002 Multiple English
10864 Poukahangatus Tayi Tibble 2022 New Zealand English
10863 Nova Antologia Poética Vinícius De Moraes 2003 Brazilian Portuguese
10893 Brand New Ancients Kae Tempest 2013 British English
10907 Inside My Mother Ali Cobby Eckermann 2015 Australian English
11005 Shifting The Silence Etel Adnan 2020 Unknown English
11049 Untold Stories Alan Bennett 2005 British English
11062 Look Solmaz Sharif 2016 American English
11086 When I Grow Up I Want To Be A List Of Further Possibilities Chen Chen 2017 American English
11113 The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton John Milton 2007 British English
11219 The Black Flamingo Dean Atta 2019 British English
11303 New Cemetery Simon Armitage 2017 English English
11393 Poor Caleb Femi 2020 British English
11565 Nox Anne Carson 2010 Canadian English
11623 Finding Beauty In A Broken World Terry Tempest Williams 2008 American English
11663 Wade In The Water Tracy K. Smith 2018 American English
11663 Brown Kevin Young 2018 American English
11857 Mahmoud Ou La Montée Des Eaux Antoine Wauters 2021 Belgian French
12049 Landing Light Don Paterson 2003 British English
12074 Dry Cleaned Joris Mertens 2022 Unknown English
12083 Perfect Victims Mohammed El-Kurd 2025 Unknown English
12112 Every Riven Thing Christian Wiman 2010 American English
12123 Songs For The Dead And The Living Sara M. Saleh 2023 Unknown English
12180 I'll Tell You When I'm Home Hala Alyan 2025 American English
12407 True Mistakes Lena Moses-Schmitt 2025 Unknown English
12435 Night Watch Kevin Young 2025 American English
12473 Helen Of Troy, 1993 Maria Zoccola 2025 Unknown English
12480 Poets Square Courtney Gustafson 2025 Unknown English
12620 We Computers Hamid Ismailov, Shelley Fairweather-Vega 2025 Unknown English
12657 Poems Of William Empson William Empson 2007 British English
12657 Poems Of R. S. Thomas R. S. Thomas 2003 British English
12657 Collected Poems Geoffrey Hill 2013 British English