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Poetry

For a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, Fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000).
Year
Winners
Finalists

Tripas: Poems, by Brandon Som (Georgia Review Books)

A collection that deeply engages with the complexities of the poet’s dual Mexican and Chinese heritage, highlighting the dignity of his family’s working lives, creating community rather than conflict.

Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007-2020, by Carl Phillips (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

A masterful collection that chronicles American culture as the country struggles to make sense of its politics, of life in the wake of a pandemic, and of our place in a changing global community.  

frank: sonnets, by Diane Seuss (Graywolf Press)

A virtuosic collection that inventively expands the sonnet form to confront the messy contradictions of contemporary America, including the beauty and the difficulty of working-class life in the Rust Belt.

Olio, by Tyehimba Jess (Wave Books)

For a distinctive work that melds performance art with the deeper art of poetry to explore collective memory and challenge contemporary notions of race and identity.

3 Sections, by Vijay Seshadri (Graywolf Press)

A compelling collection of poems that examine human consciousness, from birth to dementia, in a voice that is by turns witty and grave, compassionate and remorseless.

Corn Huskers , by Carl Sandburg

This award was made possible by a special grant from The Poetry Society.

Old Road to Paradise , by Margaret Widdemer

This award was made possible by a special grant from The Poetry Society.
Finalists:

Love Songs , by Sara Teasdale

This award was made possible by a special grant from The Poetry Society.
Finalists: