5 Books by Emerging Poets that Everyone Should Read
I’ve always loved the idea that poetry can help us unpack a moment – that between densely packed imagery or space left on the page, between sprawling lines and enjambments that send us tumbling, we might find something new in even the most mundane moments. Poetry makes me think that if we look closely enough, there might be whole worlds we can unearth.
For this blog, I’ve collected 5 collections by poets I admire whose work transports me elsewhere, blending the sublime and material or offering unbridled dreaming. I love poetry that goes beyond the limits of what we might dare to imagine and these 5 collections do just that.
While I’ve put “emerging” poets in the title, I do want to give the caveat that emerging is a term that’s deeply personal to every writer. For the purposes of this article, I’ve included poets who have published only one or two full-length collections as “emerging.”
Heliotropia
by Manahil Bandukwala (Brick Books, 2024)
Whereas Manahil Bandukwala’s first collection MONUMENT was a conversation with Mughal Empress Mumtaz Mahal, Heliotropia is a meditation on love during times of social and political upheaval. When a terrestrial crisis is not merely at our doorsteps but already in our house, how love might yet allow us to flower? Just as a sunflower reaches towards the life-sustaining sun, the poet suggests that the same “is a lover’s growth compelled by the gravitational pull and soul-light of their beloved.” From poems like the “Archive of love in botany” to “Watching Star Trek with you,” I can’t wait to see all the mementos of love that the poet gifts us so that we too might reach for warmth. Heliotropia was published by Brick Books in September 2024.
Xanax Cowboy
by Hannah Green (Anansi Press, 2023)
This collection made me miss my subway stop twice because I was so engrossed. The titular character of the Xanax Cowboy “has a reputation like a rattlesnake” and I've never wanted to lean so close and listen to the rattlesnake’s song, threat of being bitten be damned. Xanax Cowboy balances gripping and cinematic momentum with a plethora of poetic sites of exploration like emails and movie scenes. The compelling poet-speaker had me saddled up and along for the ride, and I could do nothing but hold on tight. Xanax Cowboy was published by House of Anansi Press in April 2023.
The Siren in the Twelfth House
by Victoria Mbabazi (Palimpsest Press, 2024)
This debut collection from Victoria Mbabazi brings us into a lush repertoire of siren songs and the destruction and rebuilding of astrological houses. As a Cancer sun and Aries moon myself, I have often been drawn to water motifs and what lies below the waves. While it begins with “Truthfully I can only tell you what’s missing,” the collection steers itself towards reclamation and rediscovering joy. Victoria Mbabazi – notably a Pisces sun, Aries moon poet – has published two chapbooks, and I can’t wait to see what they bring to us in their first full-length collection. The Siren in the Twelfth House was published by Palimpsest Press in September 2024.
Myth
by Terese Mason Pierre (House of Anansi Press, 2025)
Terese Mason Pierre's chapbooks Surface Area (Anstruther Press, 2019) and Manifest (Gap Riot Press, 2020) are two chapbooks that I treasure. Myth is a much-anticipated debut from a phenomenal poet, one who can weave the everyday and the sublime in an inextricable tapestry that lures you into the fabric. From extraterrestrials visiting the Caribbean as locals remain unphased to La Diablesse luring helpless suitors to their dooms, I'm excited for the many realms I may glimpse as the poet “weaves between worlds (‘real’ and ‘imaginary’) unearthing the unsettling.” Myth will be published by House of Anansi Press in April 2025.
a body more tolerable
by jaye simpson (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2025)
Years ago, I recommended jaye simpson’s first collection it was never going to be okay in a gift guide for All Lit Up’s blog. Specifically, it was a gift for “the one who refuses to be bound by linear time.” jaye simpson’s first collection took readers from haunted photo albums to the edge of Hades, refusing to be contained across time and space. This makes me even more excited for this accomplished poet’s sophomore collection of poems about “redefining acts of creation, destruction, deconstruction, and recreation, from a singular Indigiqueer point of view.” There is no poet better to show us how to “dream of a world more divine” and I can’t wait to spend time in jaye simpson’s visions. a body more tolerable will be published by Arsenal Pulp Press in March 2025.
Natasha Ramoutar is a writer of Indo-Guyanese descent from Toronto. Her debut collection of poetry, Bittersweet, published in 2020 by Mawenzi House, was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. She was the co-editor of Feel Ways, an anthology of Scarborough literature. She is a senior editor with Augur Magazine and serves on the editorial board at Wolsak and Wynn. Her second collection of poetry Baby Cerberus will be released October 2024.
