Over the past 9 years of the Sealey Challenge, the number of books of poetry we've read in community must be in the hundreds-of-thousands, and today we've gathered up 25 recommendations (in no particular order) shared by the 2025 #SealeyChallenge community.
Thank you to everyone participating in this annual challenge to #readmorepoetry!
Rooms for the dead and the not yet by Rhoni Blankenhorn
A touching collection of poetry on the loss of the author’s parents and friend with some photography art.
—@maestromarvelous.bsky.social
After Image by Jenny George
was such a metamorphic journey into the landscape of grief. It is an absolutely beautiful collection, and my favorite so far
—@bitterly.ironic (Instagram)
Lynda Hull Collected Poems
The joy of the #SealeyChallenge you get to read again your favourite collections Lynda Hull Collected Poems is lyrically luscious each line lovingly laid for us to luxuriate in. Beautiful
—rmcfarlane63 (X)
LORD OF THE BUTTERFLIES by Andrea Gibson
Diving into Andrea Gibson this month and LORD OF THE BUTTERFLIES was exquisite
—lorrenlemmons (Instagram)
loving my salt-drenched bones by karo ska
“Healing isn’t chronological. It’s a monsoon, seasonal & shifting, guided by the atmospheric pressure of my body, & the temperature of my emotions. & every day, I pray I’ll live to see the blue sky once again.”
Wow. This book felt like I got to witness the author’s healing in real time. Very vulnerable, relatable, bitter, and sweet. I loved every minute of reading this book.
—camaricreative (Instagram)
Jim Harrison's late collection IN SEARCH OF SMALL GODS
which contains beautiful poems on aging, memory, & living to nature's rhythms.(in one poem, Sunday Discordancis, he advises the hummingbirds to just slow down)
—@ricklarios.bsky.social
Citizen Illegal by José Olivarez (+others)
Citizen Illegal by José Olivarez and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay were two that cemented my love [for poetry]
—i_equal_mc_squared (Instagram)
Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
—Anne McCabe (Facebook)
Change of Address, Kathleen Fraser
Wonderful chapbook by Kathleen Fraser found on the Poet’s House site for #SealeyChallenge Day 19.
—@cjsarett (X)
Poppies for Palestine - El Ibrahim Dawud & Katalina Rodriguez - ELKAT Productions
From “Together” by Muhammad Eli. “The watermelon reminds me of the Palestinian flag. The flag reminds me of a kite flying in the sky.”
—rebeca_lois_ (Instagram)
The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi (+ others)
The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On -Franny Choi, The Many Names for Mother- Julia Kolchinsky, Why I Wake Early- Mary Oliver, I Shimmer Sometimes, Too- Porsha Olayiwola
—occasionally_educational (Instagram)
Seeing The Body by Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Wowza that was a heartbreaker
—bookishveterinarian (Instagram)
DEAR ELENA by Tina Cane
Oh this book is beautiful—not only the poems (those lovely long and spaced lines) and the concept (a conversation with Elena Ferrante), but the book itself, with is sheer illustrations and its thread. “each life is a book in itself the one you wrote and the one I read”
—jennmartelli (Instagram)
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, ntozake shange. Scribner, 1975-2022.
“you gave it up in a buick?”
“a rapist is always to be a stranger / to be legitimate / someone you never saw / a man wit obvious problems”
“my love is too delicate to have thrown back on my face”
—katlikeswords (Instagram)
bright wings
a book of poetry about birds edited by billy collins, with illustrations by david sibley
—@bearofoses.bsky.social
love in the time of whalefall by Dan PekKar
Poetry based on the ecology of life and death, of ends and beginnings, with some cool illustrations of the food chain of whale fall. Picked this up at the NY Poetry festival.
The Brush (2024) by Eliana Hernandez-Pachon
A striking narrative long poem, documenting a rural atrocity through different POV: witnesses, investigators, victims & nature itself.
—@rfredekenter.bsky.social
Derek Walcott: Selected Poetry
‘something removed roars in the ears of this house’
—@matthewmcsmith.bsky.social
Improvised Explosive Device by Arji Manuelpillai
is brave, bold & [fire emoji]. How do you shine a light on difficult subjects dig deep under the layers and expose the nuances, frailty and the violence of humanity.
—@rmcfarlane63 (X)
My mother was a freedom fighter by Aja Monet
—Heather Kirkland (Facebook)
Playlist for the Apocalypse by Rita Dove
—Nicole Brickman (Facebook)
Finna by Nate Marshall (+ others)
Finna by Nate Marshall, All the Blood Involved in Love by Maya Marshall, and Hardly Creatures by Rob Macaisa Colgate
—mixedreader (Instagram)
Obit × Victoria Chang (+ others)
Obit × Victoria Chang, Don't Call Us Dead × Danez Smith, Meltwater × Claire Wahmanholm, The Rupture Tense × Jenny Xie, Room Swept Home × Remica Bingham-Risher, The Year of Blue Water × Yanyi, You Can Be The Last Leaf × Maya Al-Hayat, If God is a Virus × Seema Yasmin, ʻĀina Hānau × Brandy Nālani McDougall, and [åmot] × Craig Santos Perez
—kristinmb (Instagram)
This Wound is a World by Billy-Ray Belcourt (+ others)
Just reread This Wound is a World by Billy-Ray Belcourt. Incredible. Always always Carl Phillips. How to Spill by Jessica Johns and The Wishbone Dress by Cassandra J. Bruner are two amazing chaps!
—openbookopen (Instagram)
White Blood by Kiki Petrosino (+ others)
Next up for me are White Blood by Kiki Petrosino, For My People by Margaret Walker and Scorched Earth by Tianna Clark. 🔥
—randisworld7 (Instagram)