14 must-read poetry books like The Carrying by Ada Limon

Cover of The Carrying by Ada Limon

The Carrying

By: Ada Limon

4.40

Format: 120 pages, Hardcover

From National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Ada Limón comes The Carryi…

"What if, instead of carrying a child, I am supposed to carry grief?"

-Ada Limon, The Carrying

"All I’ve been working on is napping, and maybe being kinder to others, to myself."

-Ada Limon, The Carrying

"I know you don’t always understand, but let me point to the first wet drops landing on the stones, the noise like fingers drumming the skin. I can’t help it. I will never get over making everything such a big deal."

-Ada Limon, The Carrying

"I saw a mom take her raincoat off and give it to her young daughter when a storm took over the afternoon. My god, I thought, my whole life I’ve been under her raincoat thinking it was somehow a marvel that I never got wet."

-Ada Limon, The Carrying

If you liked the poetry plot in The Carrying by Ada Limon , here is a list of 14 books like this:

Cover of The Wild Iris by Louise Glück

1. The Wild Iris

By: Louise Glück

4.18

Format: 65 pages, Paperback

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature From Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Louise Glück, a stunnin… read more

Similar categories in Louise Glück's The Wild Iris book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • poetry
  • the united states of america
  • contemporary
  • womens
  • nature
"things that can't move learn to see"

-Louise Glück, The Wild Iris

" No one's despair is like my despair-- "

-Louise Glück, The Wild Iris

"I'm tired of you, chaos of the living world--"

-Louise Glück, The Wild Iris

"What does the horse give you That I cannot give you?"

-Louise Glück, The Wild Iris

Cover of Averno by Louise Glück

2. Averno

By: Louise Glück

4.18

Format: 76 pages, Paperback

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE Averno is a small crater lake in southern Italy, regarde… read more

Similar categories in Louise Glück's Averno book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • contemporary
  • poetry
  • the united states of america
"Is it possible to miss the opportunity of one's life?"

-Louise Glück, Averno

"What will you do, when it is your turn in the field with the god?"

-Louise Glück, Averno

"My memory is like a basement filled with old papers: nothing ever changes."

-Louise Glück, Averno

"If your soul died, whose life are you living, and when did you become that person?"

-Louise Glück, Averno

Cover of Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay

3. Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

By: Ross Gay

4.25

Format: 112 pages, Paperback

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude is a sustained meditation on that which goes away—loved ones, the se… read more

Similar categories in Ross Gay's Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • poetry
  • adult
  • nonfiction
  • nature
"...the mistake I say is a gift don’t be afraid see what it teaches you..."

-Ross Gay, Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

"I swore when I got into this poem I would convert this sorrow into some kind of honey with the little musics I can sometimes make with these scribbled artifacts of our desolation."

-Ross Gay, Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

"Of course she’s dead: Tina was her name, of leukemia: so I heard— why else would I try sadly to make music of her unremarkable kindness? I am trying, I think, to forgive myself for something I don’t …"

-Ross Gay, Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

"Don peered at me again with those sad eyes, or through me, or into me, the way my dead do sometimes, looking straight into their homes, which hopefully have flowers in a vase on a big wooden table, a…"

-Ross Gay, Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

Cover of Crush by Richard Siken

4. Crush

By: Richard Siken

3.67

Format: None pages, Paperback

Richard Siken's Crush, selected as the 2004 winner of the Yale Younger Poets prize, is a powerful c… read more

Similar categories in Richard Siken's Crush book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • poetry
  • contemporary
Cover of Bluets by Maggie Nelson

5. Bluets

By: Maggie Nelson

4.22

Format: 72 pages, Paperback

Suppose I were to begin by saying that I had fallen in love with a color... A lyrical, philosophica… read more

Similar categories in Maggie Nelson's Bluets book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • nonfiction
  • contemporary

6. When My Brother Was an Aztec

By: Natalie Díaz

3.66

Format: 352 pages, Paperback

"I write hungrysentences," Natalie Diaz once explained in an interview, "because they want more and… read more

Similar categories in Natalie Díaz's When My Brother Was an Aztec book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

7. Felicity

By: Mary Oliver

4.12

Format: 288 pages, Hardcover

Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, celebrates love in her new collection of poems "If I ha… read more

Similar categories in Mary Oliver's Felicity book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

8. War of the Foxes

By: Richard Siken

3.75

Format: 166 pages, Paperback

In this long-awaited follow-up to Crush, Yale Series of Younger Poets prize-winner Richard Siken tu… read more

Similar categories in Richard Siken's War of the Foxes book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

9. Calling a Wolf a Wolf

By: Kaveh Akbar

4.00

Format: 98 pages, Paperback

"The struggle from late youth on, with and without God, agony, narcotics and love is a torment rare… read more

Similar categories in Kaveh Akbar's Calling a Wolf a Wolf book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

10. Life on Mars

By: Tracy K. Smith

4.45

Format: 122 pages,

You lie there kicking like a baby, waiting for God himself To lift you past the rungs of your crib.… read more

Similar categories in Tracy K. Smith's Life on Mars book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

11. Night Sky with Exit Wounds

By: Ocean Vuong

4.00

Format: 258 pages, Paperback

Ocean Vuong's first full-length collection aims straight for the perennial "big"--and very human--s… read more

Similar categories in Ocean Vuong's Night Sky with Exit Wounds book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

Cover of Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

12. Time Is a Mother

By: Ocean Vuong

3.94

Format: 114 pages, Hardcover

In this deeply intimate second poetry collection, Ocean Vuong searches for life among the aftershoc… read more

Similar categories in Ocean Vuong's Time Is a Mother book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • audiobook
  • poetry
  • adult
  • contemporary
Cover of frank: sonnets by Diane Seuss

13. frank: sonnets

By: Diane Seuss

4.50

Format: 137 pages, Paperback

WINNER OF THE 2022 PULITZER PRIZE IN POETRY WINNER OF THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD … read more

Similar categories in Diane Seuss's frank: sonnets book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • poetry
  • nonfiction
  • contemporary
  • 21st century
  • adult
"I saw a little movie of a person stroking a small bird with two Q-tips, one held between the forefinger and thumb of each hand. It tipped back its head to receive the minor tenderness, which to the b…"

-Diane Seuss, frank: sonnets

Cover of The Tradition by Jericho Brown

14. The Tradition

By: Jericho Brown

4.24

Format: 77 pages, Paperback

Jericho Brown’s daring new book The Tradition details the normalization of evil and its history at … read more

Similar categories in Jericho Brown's The Tradition book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • audiobook
  • poetry
  • adult
  • contemporary
"The opposite of rape is understanding."

-Jericho Brown, The Tradition

"Nobody in this nation feels safe, and I'm still a reason why."

-Jericho Brown, The Tradition

"There is the happiness you have And the happiness you deserve."

-Jericho Brown, The Tradition

"We few left who listen to the radio leave Ourselves available to surprise."

-Jericho Brown, The Tradition

Cover of Pilgrim Bell: Poems by Kaveh Akbar

15. Pilgrim Bell: Poems

By: Kaveh Akbar

4.24

Format: 80 pages, Paperback

Kaveh Akbar’s exquisite, highly anticipated follow-up to Calling a Wolf a Wolf. With formal virtuos… read more

Similar categories in Kaveh Akbar's Pilgrim Bell: Poems book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • poetry
  • adult
  • nonfiction
  • the united states of america
"Wrath is the desire to repay what you've suffered."

-Kaveh Akbar, Pilgrim Bell: Poems

"Whatever I learn makes me angry to have learned it."

-Kaveh Akbar, Pilgrim Bell: Poems

Cover of The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi

16. The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On

By: Franny Choi

3.99

Format: 144 pages, Hardcover

From acclaimed poet Franny Choi comes a poetry collection for the ends of worlds--past, present, an… read more

Similar categories in Franny Choi's The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • audiobook
  • poetry
  • adult
  • contemporary
"I have last year's ashes in my throat, stories stuffed so full of morals they bleed sugar."

-Franny Choi, The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On

"How can I explain the things and things and things I did wrong? I was never any good at telling the difference between what wanted me and what wanted me gone"

-Franny Choi, The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On

Cover of I Do Everything I'm Told by Megan Fernandes

17. I Do Everything I'm Told

By: Megan Fernandes

4.17

Format: 104 pages, Paperback

Restless, contradictory, and witty, Megan Fernandes’ I Do Everything I’m Told explores disobedience… read more

Similar categories in Megan Fernandes's I Do Everything I'm Told book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • 21st century
  • poetry
  • womens
  • contemporary
Cover of Alive At The End Of The World by Saeed Jones

18. Alive At The End Of The World

By: Saeed Jones

4.35

Format: 104 pages, Paperback

Pierced by grief and charged with history, this new poetry collection from the award-winning author… read more

Similar categories in Saeed Jones's Alive At The End Of The World book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • poetry
  • adult
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
"The end of the world was mistaken for just another midday massacre in America."

-Saeed Jones, Alive At The End Of The World

"I wish I knew a woman who was both the light and every shadow the light pierces."

-Saeed Jones, Alive At The End Of The World

"I'm most dangerous when I'm hungry. I'm most hungry when I'm hurting. Seems like I'm always hurting."

-Saeed Jones, Alive At The End Of The World

"A few months and many deaths ago, I asked someone "how are you doing" and felt, in the way her eye fell, how I had failed her before I had even reached the end of my question. I've hurt many people b…"

-Saeed Jones, Alive At The End Of The World

Cover of The Carrying by Ada Limon

19. The Carrying

By: Ada Limon

4.40

Format: 120 pages, Hardcover

From National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Ada Limón comes The Carryi… read more

Similar categories in Ada Limon's The Carrying book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • poetry
  • the united states of america
  • feminism
  • nonfiction
  • contemporary
  • 21st century
  • womens
  • adult
  • nature
  • audiobook
"What if, instead of carrying a child, I am supposed to carry grief?"

-Ada Limon, The Carrying

"All I’ve been working on is napping, and maybe being kinder to others, to myself."

-Ada Limon, The Carrying

"I know you don’t always understand, but let me point to the first wet drops landing on the stones, the noise like fingers drumming the skin. I can’t help it. I will never get over making everything s…"

-Ada Limon, The Carrying

"I saw a mom take her raincoat off and give it to her young daughter when a storm took over the afternoon. My god, I thought, my whole life I’ve been under her raincoat thinking it was somehow a marve…"

-Ada Limon, The Carrying

Cover of Modern Poetry: Poems by Diane Seuss

20. Modern Poetry: Poems

By: Diane Seuss

4.53

Format: 112 pages, Hardcover

Diane Seuss’s signature voice―audacious in its honesty, virtuosic in its artistry, outsider in its … read more

Similar categories in Diane Seuss's Modern Poetry: Poems book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • poetry
  • contemporary
Cover of Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Díaz

21. Postcolonial Love Poem

By: Natalie Díaz

4.33

Format: 107 pages, Paperback

Natalie Diaz’s highly anticipated follow-up to When My Brother Was an Aztec, winner of an American … read more

Similar categories in Natalie Díaz's Postcolonial Love Poem book and Ada Limon's The Carrying

  • poetry
  • feminism
  • nonfiction
  • 21st century
  • adult
"Unsoothable thirst is one kind of haunting"

-Natalie Díaz, Postcolonial Love Poem

"In Mojave, our words for want and need are the same – because why would you want what you don’t need?"

-Natalie Díaz, Postcolonial Love Poem

"Maybe death is a way to clean the self, of the body, to finally celebrate it. A celebration should leave a mess."

-Natalie Díaz, Postcolonial Love Poem

"At the National Museum of the American Indian, 68 percent of the collection is from the United States. I am doing my best to not become a museum of myself. I am doing my best to breathe in and out."

-Natalie Díaz, Postcolonial Love Poem

11 must-read contemporary books like The Carrying by Ada Limon

Transform Your Habits

The Wild Iris

Louise Glück

4.18

Transform Your Habits

Averno

Louise Glück

4.18

Transform Your Habits

Crush

Richard Siken

3.67

Transform Your Habits

Bluets

Maggie Nelson

4.22

View all the books

9 must-read contemporary books like frank: sonnets by Diane Seuss

Transform Your Habits

The Wild Iris

Louise Glück

4.18

Transform Your Habits

Sharks in the Rivers

Ada Limon

3.95

Transform Your Habits

frank: sonnets

Diane Seuss

4.50

Transform Your Habits

The Tradition

Jericho Brown

4.24

View all the books

Never miss a story from us, get weekly updates in your inbox.