I follow “poetry is not a luxury” on instagram and have discovered new poems and new poets via their posts, so I was excited to read their selections for this collection. The collection is sorted by seasons of the year, beginning with summer and ending with spring. The poets are diverse and wide-ranging and include Rita Dove (spring), Mary Ruefle (summer), Aria Aber (fall), and Solmaz Sharif (winter). Just like with the instagram, I discovered some new-to-me poets and some really beautiful poetry. Stand-outs for me were “We Love What We Have” by Mosab Abu Toha and Summer Solstice by Jenn Zhang. This would be a good book for a bedside table - nice to pick up each morning and evening and choose a poem or two to enjoy.

Exactly what I needed right now. I loved just about each poem and found a way to connect to them. I decided to write little journal entries for the ones that really speak to me and why I connected with them. Something I can look back on or maybe even add to in a year.

But, I really enjoy these and love the concept of keeping them to each season! It’s a super cool idea and I love poems.

For years I've been a fan of the Poetry Is Not a Luxury instagram account -- I love the way it drops little gems into my daily scroll. And this lovely volume is a gorgeous way to bring that beauty into my life, sans screens.

The curator has assembled work that appeals to the poetry newbie and also the aficionado, and whether you settle in for a long read or just open to a random page, you'll find a thoughtful collection of poems to make you think.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I follow Poetry is Not a Luxury on Instagram, and have discovered how accessible poetry can be to me as I read for pleasure, not necessarily academic interpretation. The poems selected both on social media, and chosen for this anthology are equally symbolic and accessible. They are beautifully written, inviting the reader to take a closer look, slow down, and reread.

The way this anthology is created is a cyclical year, starting with summer. In the section titled Summer, poems about the sun, gardens, flowers, and youth are prominent. The Autumn poems focus on the change of seasons, the golden colors we associate with the fall, and life and death. Winter poems allude to the purity of snowfall, hibernation, and hygge. Then the book ends with Spring, and we read about rebirth, flowers blooming once more, colors, and hope.

This is a quick read if you just want to open the book up to enjoy a poem or two. It is also a deeper read that can take some contemplation. The poems are both well-known (William Carlos Williams) and lesser known.

I really enjoyed reading this anthology and hope to read more!

Poetry can give us the words when we don’t have our own. This collection is broken into the seasons—winter, spring, summer and autumn. I know this is one I can come back to again in a different time of life and find more words to explain a feeling or to find understanding.

Thanks to Netgalley for the digital arc and to Simon & Schuster for the physical copy.

Poetry is Not a Luxury, an anthology from Simon & Schuester and assembled by @poetryisnotaluxury on Instagram, is a lovely collection that lets you explore the different experience and emotions of a variety of poets throughout the changing of the seasons.

It starts in Spring, then Summer, Autumn, Winter, then Spring again, because spring always comes back. The flowers bloom, the sun comes out, and things just get a little bit brighter. But Winter comes, too, with its cold touch and bittersweet smells. It's more nostalgic, more touching, like a message from a friend you hadn't seen in a while, someone who maybe isn't so much of a friend anymore.
Then there's the in-between: Summer and Fall; this time of year is one that you will remember when it is cold and dark, much like Winter. A time you can look back on when things are feeling like they are just too much for you to handle. It will bring you comfort and companionship in the form of written word, and you'll find that words hold compassion and kindness and love, so long as you find the right ones.

While reading Poetry is Not a Luxury, I felt myself being able to connect very deeply with many of the poems, feeling every breath and gust of wind they described. It was a great practice in empathy and learning to understand the minds of others. It is a lesson in love and friendship, and a reminder to live in the moment before it's gone.

Check out @poetryisnotaluxury on IG and find this anthology in stores on May 6, 2025. It is absolutely more than worth the read.

5 ⭐️

As a huge poetry fan, I’ve admittedly grown somewhat tired of collections lately. But this was different! This revived my love for poetry and sparked my brain into remembering just how impactful someone’s words can be on your life.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Publishing for this eARC

Quick synopsis: A collection of poetry by numerous authors thoughtfully organized into the four seasons. Flipping through this will take you on what will feel like a year long journey of emotions, reflections and inspirations.

💗 What I loved:
- The variation. While some collections get repetitive, I found that if you simply flip to a different season you’ll find a completely different vibe. (Pro-tip: flip to a season that fits your mood)
- The dedication. Please when you read this book, take a second to inhale that dedication.
- I don’t want to be shallow but that COVER? This it’s such a beautiful looking book that you almost can’t not want it. It’s initially what drew me in.
- This made me want to go out and discover more about all the authors that were credited (especially the ones I really loved). So this was door opening.

Overall, if you’re eyeing a poetry collection, I would recommend this one!

What a joy it is to be alive! from 1997 by Joe Wenderoth

One thing I love about social media are the people who share poetry, nourishing me daily. The Poetry is Not a Luxury Instagrammer has collected poems in a slender volume, presented by season, making a perfect gift.

One Heart
Li-Young Lee

Look at the birds. Even flying
is born
out of nothing. The first sky
is inside you, open
at either end of day.
The work of wings
was always freedom, fastening
one heart to every falling thing.

The selections by modern and contemporary poets are marvelous. Most are short, but have a big impact.

Ode to Hunger
Zenia Hashem Beck

How I crave the strawberries
we bought on a road
in Cyprus the day we got married.
Their scent was divine & we forgot

to eat them.

The poetry is about life and experience and the world, They enlighten us, make us feel seen, give us hope.

What is now will soon be past
Yrsa Daley-Ward

Just because you do it
doesn't mean you always will.
Whether you’re dancing dust
or breaking light
you’re never exactly the same,
twice.

They are about loss, grief, and remembrance. Love of mothers, daughters, lovers. The beauty and joy of being alive.

What Came to Me
Jane Kenyon

I took the last
dusty piece of china
out of the barrel.
It was your gravy boat,
with a hard, brown
drop of gravy still
on the porcelain lip.
I grieved for you then
as I never had before.

No, poetry is not a luxury; it is like air and water to our body, sustaining our inner life.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

Thanks very much to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC! I am definitely not a poet, but I love a lot of poetry, and I absolutely love the @poetryisnotaluxury Instagram account and this book is a fantastic anthology that lives up to the Instagram account's goals in featuring some great poetry, perhaps as an introduction to those not familiar with the genre, perhaps to already-existing superfans. Highly recommend, not matter your level of familiarity with poetry.

3.5

<b>To preface: </b>obviously, poetry is a subjective art form and my opinions don’t necessarily reflect the objective quality of these poems.

I find poetry anthologies to often be a mixed bag. Sometimes I hate them and sometimes I am like “this is pure genius!”. In this anthology in particular, not all of the poems were my cup of tea, but I did have a couple favorites from each section.

<b>Summer</b>
- <i>Idea</i> by Kate Baer
- <i>Ode to Hunger</i> by Zeina Hashem Beck
- <i>Pattern</i> by Garous Abdolmaleiken
- <i>43</i> by Coste Lewis
- <i>To the Women Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall</i> by Kim Addonizio

<b>Autumn</b>
- <i>Why Did It</i> by William J. Harris

<b>Winter</b>
- <i>Watching My Friend Pretend Her Heart Is Not Breaking</i> by Rosemary Wahtola Trommer
- <i>Elegy VIII (Missing you)</i> by Jason Schneiderman

<b>Spring</b>
- <i>Advice</i> by Langston Hughes
- <i>Why Bother?</i> by Sean Thomas Dougherty
- <i>Romance</i> by Timothy Liu
- <i>Checkout</i> by Caroline Bird
- <i>[from For M</i> by Mikko Harvey

Despite the description in the book’s preface, I felt like the split between the Summer, Spring, Autumn and Winter anthologies was very literal and less emotional. Many of the Autumn poems actually featured the word “autumn” or “November”, most of the Winter poems feature “winter” or “snow”, and at times I was wondering if that was the only reason they were selected.

And to some of these poems, my only reaction is:

lower case letters and o d d
spacing
does not make a poem

—————————————————————————-

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

One of my newest favourite collection of poetry. This was packed full of feelings and rick in emotions. I could feel the ache in these poems as I read them. I don't have appropriate words to describe what this collection feels like. So what I'll say is that everybody, whether read a whole lot of poetry or not, ought to pick it up. It will definitely alternate their brain chemistry. My favourite sections were Summer and Winter. It had some of the very best poems in my opinion.

I started following the “Poetry is not a luxury” page years ago, and many of the poems in this anthology I’ve read before. Even still, they brought tears to my eyes and made me slow down and savor the ordinary, glorious moments of life just like poetry ought to do.

Spice: none
Language: none
Considerations: The heaviness of grief, deep losses, doubts and questioning
Positives: the beautiful particularities of friendship, gloriously ordinary moments, embracing the unknowns of our journey

This was a really fantastic book! I immediately pre-ordered it while I was still on the first section of this book. The poems were delightful and thought provoking. I appreciated how many different voices were included in this book of poetry and I found a lot of poems hit me in ways I was not expecting. Thank you to the author and publisher for this eARC, I really appreciated the chance to read and review this book early.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: May 6, 2025

Loved this poetry anthology—for the content and also its organization. While there were endless poems I bookmarked to come back to, I really enjoyed that they were divided into the four seasons. Impressed with how well they were categorized, evoking such strong feelings for each season. It ended perfectly with the current season, conveying the blossoming hope and growth of spring.

This book was a warm cup of coffee on a cold day. I loved how soft and sweet each poem was. How delicate they were, how they felt so specific to each season they were assigned to. I adored falling in love with many new poets and poems and I even made a list of several to find more of their work to read later on. Also, the inclusion of Palestinian poets including Mahmoud Darwish and Mosab Abu Toha was a welcome surprise. They wrote two of my favorite pieces in this entire collection!
All in all, if you're looking for a poetry collection that makes you want to feel alive and content and complete, I highly recommend Poetry Is not a Luxury!

As a longtime follower of the poetryisnotaluxury Instagram account, and a diehard poetry lover, I was excited to get my hands on a copy of this book. I loved the presentation of the poems being divided by seasons. It feels like a digestible way for people to approach this collection, especially if you're not super well-versed in the world of poems.

Each poem and each season gave me something different and even the poems that I've known and loved for many years seemed to come alive again for me, as if I was meeting them for the first time. This would make a great gift for the poetry lover in your life. I can easily see this book becoming a literary companion, with dogeared pages and highlights aplenty. if you're even remotely into poetry, you should read this collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a nicely-curated collection of poetry with many poets that I had never read before. Structured into seasons, each poem does carry those sensory experiences that fit their season.

However, reading all of these so close together is definitely not the way to read this collection, because so many of them just weren't standing out. I'm already not a big fan of poems that feel like just a thought or two chopped into shorter sentences, sometimes with funky layout, and there's many of them in here. Maybe three or four poems really stood out to me, spoke to a truth that made me finally, properly connect.

Still, I liked this. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an arc in return for my honest review.

Beautiful. I follow this author’s account on Instagram and it’s the place I go to discover poets. I’ve been saving my favorite posts for years, so the idea of a compilation presented on a platter like this is brilliant. I can’t wait to buy my own copy that I can mark up and revisit through the years.

Reviewing a poetry collection feels almost impossible because of how it invokes feelings, but this collection is arranged excellently. Starting with the Summer so the reader ends in the spring was a great choice and leaves them with a feeling of hope and renewal. The poems were so perfectly selected that if you opened to a random page you could tell what season it was. The poems chosen also felt very accessible. Anyone could read this and find a poem that connects to them. This is the perfect poetry collection for those who love poetry or hoping to explore the genre.
Thank you Netgalley and Atria for the ARC!

Poetry Is Not A Luxury:⁣
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Thank you so much @washingtonsquarepress @atriabooks #AtriaPartner for my gifted copies.⁣
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I realized I had quite a few poetry books come in the past few weeks, and I had to share.⁣
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Poetry is Not a Luxury is such a stunning collection of poems for the season. I read one day for the season I was in (Spring) and just felt this big sigh and weight releasing from my shoulders as I read them. I was able to truly savor the words and really enjoyed what was being brought.⁣
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I did read a few Winter ones when Georgia decided it wanted to hit its last cold snap. Those made me want to stay under a plush blanket with a fire roaring. ⁣
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It’s funny, I would take a picture of a Spring poem if it stuck with me. I then wanted to re-read and snap a pic of ones I really liked. They were duplicates of what I already took.⁣
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I just feel like when the world feels heavy, poetry really finds the words when you can’t. Poetry is Not A Luxury is just that.⁣
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Out May 6th, I can’t wait for y’all to read it.