Poetry bestsellers

The Odyssey

Penguin Audio Classics

By: Homer
Narrated by: Ian McKellen
Length: 13 hours 2 minutes

“Homer's Odyssey was always meant to be heard, not read. This is the best translation with the best reader. Accept no substitutes. Read more

Fierce Fairytales

Poems and Stories to Stir Your Soul

By: Nikita Gill
Narrated by: Nikita Gill
Length: 2 hours 43 minutes

“When I say listening to this was transcendent, know that I don't say such things lightly. The audiobook is narrated by the author herself, and it further reminded me that poetry is meant to be read aloud, to be listened to. To be spoken by the writers and consumed in the exact way they want you to. Reading poetry in your own voice, with your own... Read more

The Hurting Kind

By: Ada Limón
Narrated by: Ada Limón
Length: 1 hour 41 minutes

“Ada Limon’s poetry is an experience unto itself, and The Hurting Kind is one of the most absorbing, rewarding collections of poetry I’ve ever heard. I loved getting pulled into the words and just listening, in the moment. If you’ve never heard Limon’s work before, do yourself a favor and listen to this book. Read more

Water, Water

Poems

By: Billy Collins
Narrated by: Billy Collins
Length: 1 hour 29 minutes

From the former Poet Laureate of the United States and New York Times bestselling author of Aimless Love comes a wondrous new collection of poems focused on the joys and mysteries of daily life.

“Among the best poems that [Billy] Collins has ever written.”—Maureen Corrigan, NPR

“Witty, wry and tender when it hurts, Water, Water is a pleasure to... Read more

The Aeneid

Revised and Expanded Edition

By: Vergil
Narrated by: Susanna Braund
Length: 10 hours 53 minutes

A powerful and poignant translation of Vergil’s epic poem, newly equipped with introduction and notes
"Ruden set the bar for Aeneid translations in 2008, and has raised it now with this revision. I am confident it will be a long time before a translator exceeds the standard that she has set."—A.M. Juster, Athenaeum Review
This is a substantial... Read more

Beowulf: A New Translation

By: Maria Dahvana Headley
Narrated by: JD Jackson & Maria Dahvana Headley
Length: 4 hours 8 minutes

“Bro! This is not your English teacher's Beowulf. Maria Dahvana Headley's "radical new translation" takes the familiar story of man versus monster and turns it into something both completely new and also as timeless as the original. What happens when Beowulf is less hero and more party boy? Or when Grendel's mother isn't a monster but just a... Read more

The Poems of T.S. Eliot Read by Jeremy Irons

By: T. S. Eliot
Narrated by: Jeremy Irons
Length: 3 hours 40 minutes

Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4, Jeremy Irons's perceptive reading illuminates the poetry of T. S. Eliot in all its complexity. Major poems range from 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock', through the post-war desolation of 'The Waste Land' and the spiritual struggle of 'Ash-Wednesday', to the enduring charm of 'Old Possum's Book of... Read more

The Wonder Paradox

Embracing the Weirdness of Existence and the Poetry of Our Lives

By: Jennifer Michael Hecht
Narrated by: Gail Shalan
Length: 11 hours 30 minutes

Religion once formed the rhythms and structures of society: marking time with calendars, carving out space for contemplation, creating connection, reinforcing legacy and morality. Now, for many, religion no longer runs the show. So where shall we find our magic? How do we celebrate milestones? Which texts can focus our attention but still offer... Read more

Aster of Ceremonies

Poems

Multiverse

By: JJJJJerome Ellis
Narrated by: JJJJJerome Ellis
Length: 6 hours 18 minutes

A polyphonic new entry in Multiverse—a literary series written and curated by the neurodivergent—JJJJJerome Ellis’s Aster of Ceremonies beautifully extends the vision of his debut book and album, The Clearing, a “lyrical celebration of and inquiry into the intersections of blackness, music, and disabled speech” (Claudia Rankine).Aster of... Read more

The Carrying

Poems

By: Ada Limón
Narrated by: Ada Limón
Length: 1 hour 39 minutes

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDFINALIST FOR THE PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARDFrom U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón comes The Carrying—her most powerful collection yet.
Vulnerable, tender, acute, these are serious poems, brave poems, exploring with honesty the ambiguous moment between the rapture of youth and the grace of acceptance. A... Read more

M Archive

After the End of the World

By: Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Narrated by: Angel Pean
Length: 4 hours 9 minutes

Following the innovative collection Spill, Alexis Pauline Gumbs's M Archive—the second book in a planned experimental triptych—is a series of poetic artifacts that speculatively documents the persistence of Black life following a worldwide cataclysm. Engaging with the work of the foundational Black feminist theorist M. Jacqui Alexander, and... Read more

You Are Here

Poetry in the Natural World

By: Ada Limon
Narrated by: Kim Ramirez
Length: 2 hours 11 minutes

In recent years, our poetic landscape has evolved in profound and exciting ways. So has our planet. Edited and introduced by the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States, Ada Limón, this book challenges what we think we know about "nature poetry," illuminating the myriad ways our landscapes—both literal and literary—are changing.



You Are... Read more

The Iliad - Abridged

Penguin Audio Classics

By: Homer
Narrated by: Derek Jacobi & Maria Tucci
Length: 8 hours 44 minutes

Dating to the ninth century BC, Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to  the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in his superb Introduction... Read more

Exits

By: Stephen Pollock
Narrated by: Stephen Pollock
Length: 39 minutes

"Pollock's poetry is brilliant"— Kristiana Reed, editor-in-chief, Free Verse RevolutionStephen C. Pollock's poetry collection Exits explores the beauty and frailty of life, the cycles of nature, and the promise of renewal. Musical and multilayered, the poems in Exits have drawn comparisons to the poetry of Seamus Heaney and the sonnets of... Read more

Lifescapes

A Biographer's Search for the Soul

By: Thomas Nelson
Narrated by: Ann Wroe
Length: 5 hours 56 minutes

"A lyrical, radiant memoir." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred ReviewAnn Wroe, obituaries editor for The Economist, reflects on the art and impossibility of capturing life on the page. Through her experiences and through people she has known, studied, or merely glimpsed in windows, she movingly explores what makes a life and how that life lingers after... Read more

Mujer sin vergüenza

Poems

By: Sandra Cisneros
Narrated by: Liliana Valenzuela
Length: 2 hours 27 minutes

Una valiente colección de poemas nuevos de Sandra Cisneros, autora del libro de mayor venta La casa en Mango Street.

Han pasado veintiocho años desde que Sandra Cisneros publicara un libro de poesía. Con decenas de poemas inéditos, Mujer sin vergüenza es una conmovedora colección de canciones, elegías y declaraciones que dan testimonio de su... Read more

The Night Before Christmas

The Classic Edition

By: Clement Moore
Narrated by: Jeff Bridges
Length: 4 minutes

The Night Before Christmas is an enchanting Christmas story that has brought Santa Claus to life for generations. Celebrate the holiday season with this #1 New York Times bestselling edition of the classic poem read by Jeff Bridges.'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the houseNot a creature was stirring, not even a mouse Carry on... Read more

At Blackwater Pond

Mary Oliver reads Mary Oliver

By: Mary Oliver
Narrated by: Mary Oliver
Length: 1 hour

Mary Oliver has published twenty-one volumes of poetry and six books of prose in the span of five decades, but she rarely performs her poetry in live readings. With At Blackwater Pond, Mary Oliver gives her audience what they've longed to hear: the poet's voice reading her own work. In this audio, she has recorded forty of her favorite poems,... Read more

The Hill We Climb

An Inaugural Poem for the Country

By: Amanda Gorman
Narrated by: Amanda Gorman & Oprah Winfrey
Length: 9 minutes

Amanda Gorman’s powerful and historic poem “The Hill We Climb,” read at President Joe Biden’s inauguration

“Stunning.” —CNN 
“Dynamic.” —NPR
“Deeply rousing and uplifting.” —Vogue


On January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman became the sixth and youngest poet to deliver a poetry reading at a presidential inauguration. Taking the stage after the 46th... Read more

The Iliad

A New Translation by Caroline Alexander

By: Homer & Caroline Alexander
Narrated by: Dominic Keating
Length: 19 hours 46 minutes

With her virtuoso translation, classicist and bestselling author Caroline Alexander brings to life Homer’s timeless epic of the Trojan WarComposed around 730 B.C., Homer’s Iliad recounts the events of a few momentous weeks in the protracted ten-year war between the invading Achaeans, or Greeks, and the Trojans in their besieged city of Ilion.... Read more

A Fortune For Your Disaster

Poems

By: Hanif Abdurraqib
Narrated by: Hanif Abdurraqib
Length: 1 hour 36 minutes

“Hanif Abdurraquib’s powerful collection of poems explores the unending heartbreak of being black in America and how to find strength and self-actualization. Landscaped by graves, mirrors, and music these poems take the personal grief of being barked at by dogs and frames and re-frames those aggression into explorations on how our nation’s... Read more

Forest of Noise

Poems

By: Mosab Abu Toha
Narrated by: Mosab Abu Toha
Length: 1 hour 9 minutes

““What can you see when your eyes are closed?” A Gazan mother tells her children just that with the hope of quelling their fears, despite being surrounded by bombs and their eradicating light. Reader, open your heart if your eyes are unwilling. Everyone’s humanity is at stake if the suffering in Palestine doesn’t wake you up to witness the truth.... Read more

Falling Back in Love with Being Human

Letters to Lost Souls

By: Kai Cheng Thom
Narrated by: Kai Cheng Thom
Length: 1 hour 34 minutes

A national bestseller in Canada, hailed by The New York Times as an “intimate expression of self-acceptance and forgiveness, tenderly written to fellow trans women and others.”

“Required reading.”—Glennon Doyle, #1 bestselling author of Untamed

A THEM AND AUTOSTRADDLE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • FINALIST FOR THE PAT LOWTHER MEMORIAL AWARD

What happens... Read more

Some Things I Still Can't Tell You

Poems

By: Misha Collins
Narrated by: Misha Collins
Length: 57 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!  From Misha Collins, actor, longtime poet, and activist, whose massive online following calls itself his “Army For Good," comes his debut poetry collection, Some Things I Still Can't Tell You. Trademark wit and subtle vulnerability converge in each poem; this book is both a celebration of and aspiration for a life well... Read more

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings

Poems

By: Joy Harjo
Narrated by: Joy Harjo
Length: 1 hour 53 minutes

A musical, magical, resilient volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United StatesIn these poems, the joys and struggles of the everyday are played against the grinding politics of being human. Beginning in a hotel room in the dark of a distant city, we travel through history and follow the memory of the Trail of Tears from... Read more

Time Is a Mother

By: Ocean Vuong
Narrated by: Ocean Vuong
Length: 1 hour 43 minutes

“Ocean Vuong comes home in his second full-length collection, exploring grief, violence, masculinity and queer life in America. Whether shoveling snow, reversing time, or losing his mother, Vuong will crack you open and heal you. Read more

Call Us What We Carry

Poems

By: Amanda Gorman
Narrated by: Amanda Gorman
Length: 3 hours 31 minutes

The instant #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller


The breakout poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman

Formerly titled The Hill We Climb and Other Poems, the luminous poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet... Read more

I Talk Like a River

By: Jordan Scott
Narrated by: Jordan Scott
Length: 18 minutes

When a boy who stutters feels isolated, alone, and incapable of communicating in the way he'd like, it takes a kindly father and a walk by the river to help him find his voice. Through this powerful and uplifting story, poet Jordan Scott uses his own experiences to reveal what it’s like to be a child who feels lost, lonely, or unable to fit in.... Read more

Dog Songs and A Thousand Mornings

Deluxe Edition

By: Mary Oliver
Narrated by: Mary Oliver
Length: 1 hour 24 minutes

A New York Times bestselling poetry collection, featuring both Dog Songs and A Thousand Mornings

Mary Oliver’s Dog Songs is a celebration of the special bond between human and dog, as understood through the poet’s relationships to the canines that have accompanied her daily walks, warmed her home, and inspired her work. Oliver’s poems begin in... Read more

Many Miles

Mary Oliver reads Mary Oliver

By: Mary Oliver
Narrated by: Mary Oliver
Length: 41 minutes

Following the success of At Blackwater Pond, this second audio reccording from bestselling poet Mary Oliver contains a selection of thirty-seven previously published poems and four new, read by the poet in her steady, magnetic voice. Oliver recites from the full range of her poetry—from her classic nature writing to her verses for her... Read more

A Poetry Handbook

By: Mary Oliver
Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
Length: 3 hours 33 minutes

“Mary Oliver would probably never admit to anything so grandiose as an effort to connect the conscious mind and the heart (that’s what she says poetry can do), but that is exactly what she accomplishes in this stunning little handbook.”—Los Angeles TimesFrom the beloved, legendary poet, the ultimate guide to writing and understanding poetry.With... Read more

Ten Bridges I've Burnt

A Memoir in Verse

By: Brontez Purnell
Narrated by: Brontez Purnell
Length: 1 hour 28 minutes

“At several points while listening to Brontez Purnell read, I felt my chest go concave at the impact of his words. The way he spins phrases, chains metaphors, and links seemingly unrelated stories is genuinely breathtaking. Read more

How to Be a Good Savage and Other Poems

Seedbank

By: Mikeas Sánchez
Narrated by: Mikeas Sánchez, Wendy Call & Shook
Length: 3 hours 47 minutes

“This audiobook is so wonderful as it reads each poem in all three languages: the translation into English, as well as the original Zoque and Spanish. Hearing the Zoque read aloud is incredibly powerful to me as a reader and knowledge-seeker, because it expanded my understanding of the language and actively preserves its sounds and rhythms. I was... Read more

Tao Te Ching

A New English Version

By: Stephen Mitchell & Lao Tzu
Narrated by: Stephen Mitchell
Length: 1 hour 40 minutes

In 81 brief chapters, Lao-Tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, provides advice that imparts balance and perspective, a serene and generous spirit, and teaches us how to work for the good with the effortless skill that comes from being in accord with the Tao—the basic principle of the universe. Stephen Mitchell's bestselling version has been... Read more

Homie

Poems

By: Danez Smith
Narrated by: Danez Smith
Length: 1 hour 32 minutes

Danez Smith is our president



Homie is Danez Smith's magnificent anthem about the saving grace of friendship. Rooted in the loss of one of Smith's close friends, this book comes out of the search for joy and intimacy within a nation where both can seem scarce and getting scarcer. In poems of rare power and generosity, Smith acknowledges that in a... Read more

An American Sunrise

Poems

By: Joy Harjo
Narrated by: Joy Harjo
Length: 1 hour 40 minutes

A stunning new volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, informed by her tribal history and connection to the land.In the early 1800s, the Mvskoke people were forcibly removed from their original lands east of the Mississippi to Indian Territory, which is now part of Oklahoma. Two hundred years later, Joy Harjo... Read more

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

By: Dante Alighieri
Narrated by: Suzanne Fowler , Dennis Wells, Rina Riley Anis Marsh, Talia Morton, Malcolm Cameron, Mollie Sanders, Kris Welch & June Sherman
Length: 12 hours 16 minutes

The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide; his ascent of Mount Purgatory and encounter with his dead love, Beatrice; and finally, his arrival in Heaven. Examining questions of faith, desire and enlightenment, the poem is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human redemption.

Dante Alighieri was born... Read more

How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons)

Poetry

By: Barbara Kingsolver
Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver
Length: 2 hours 12 minutes

“Kingsolver writes poetry that is both accessible and profound. This is the kind of collection you’ll loan out to a friend or relative and never get back. You should probably go ahead and buy two or three all at once! Read more

Life on Mars

Poems

By: Tracy K. Smith
Narrated by: Tracy K. Smith
Length: 1 hour 22 minutes

“One of my all-time favorite books of poetry. Tracy K Smith is a lyrical and narrative mastermind, managing to capture and utilize the spirit of all good science fiction in her still incredibly grounded poetry. Read more

The Universe in Verse

15 Portals to Wonder through Science & Poetry

By: Maria Popova
Narrated by: Maria Popova & Lili Taylor
Length: 1 hour 28 minutes

“A dazzling constellation of science and poetry that will spark your curiosity and leave you in awe, The Universe in Verse sends us on a voyage through space and time on a vessel made of verse by Sylvia Plath, Maya Angelou, Tracy K. Smith, and more, about mycology and octopus intelligence, floriculture and the Hubble telescope, radioactivity and... Read more

Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass

By: Lana Del Rey
Narrated by: Lana Del Rey
Length: 38 minutes

The New York Times bestselling debut book of poetry from Lana Del Rey, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass.

“Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is the title poem of the book and the first poem I wrote of many. Some of which came to me in their entirety, which I dictated and then typed out, and some that I worked laboriously picking apart each... Read more

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On

By: Franny Choi
Narrated by: Franny Choi
Length: 1 hour 59 minutes

“Every day of my life has been something other than my last. Every day, an extinction misfires, and I put it to work. Franny Choi’s speculative poetry is so incisive, imaginative, and moving. Here, she counters the notion that apocalypse is something we anticipate, showing again and again that apocalypse is historical and ongoing, especially for... Read more

Little Big Bully

Penguin Poets

By: Heid E. Erdrich
Narrated by: Heid E. Erdrich
Length: 1 hour 51 minutes

Winner of the 2022 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry

In a new collection that is "a force of nature" (Amy Gerstler), renowned Native poet Heid E. Erdrich applies her rich inventive voice and fierce wit to the deforming effects of harassment and oppression.

Little Big Bully begins with a question asked of a collective and troubled... Read more

Black Girl, Call Home

By: Jasmine Mans
Narrated by: Jasmine Mans
Length: 1 hour 50 minutes

“This collection. Have you ever closed a book and suddenly felt that all that you are, all that you've seen has somehow been made tangible through another's voice? Have you ever felt called in to let go, to be heard, and to be seen? That is what Mans has done here. I will forever hold onto the beautiful ways in which Jasmine pulls apart and gives... Read more

Everyday Shakespeare

Lines for Life

By: Ben Crystal & David Crystal
Narrated by: Ben Crystal, David Crystal & Hillary Crystal
Length: 10 hours 47 minutes

An absolutely joyous, gasp-out-loud achievement. - Stephen Fry

A cathedral of consciousness - Shakespeare's uncanny insight into human nature finds us, unearthed here. - LionHeart, artist, poet, and BBC Radio London presenter

Shakespeare had an ear and hand that was able to capture our everyday thoughts and emotions, pin them to a page, and... Read more

Llama Llama Back to School

Llama Llama

By: Anna Dewdney & Reed Duncan
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
Length: 4 minutes

A Netflix Original series

From bestselling author and storyteller Anna Dewdney comes a back-to-school story featuring the beloved Llama Llama!

Summer days are getting shorter and it's almost time for the first day of school for Llama! But Llama Llama isn’t ready for summertime to end. It's been full of backyard camping, family picnics, and ice... Read more

Llama Llama's Little Lie

By: Anna Dewdney
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
Length: 5 minutes

Llama Llama learns a lesson in telling the truth in this new book in the bestselling Llama Llama series.

When Llama Llama accidentally breaks Mama Llama's favorite picture frame, he decides to tell a little lie about how it happened. In the end, Llama Llama learns a powerful lesson about telling the truth, even if it's hard to say.
 
Told with Anna... Read more

Chaotic Good

By: Sabrina Benaim
Narrated by: Sabrina Benaim
Length: 1 hour

From the author of Depression and Other Magic Tricks and I Love You, Call Me Back, a special new collection of poems and stories--available only as an audio exclusive. For fans of Rupi Kaur and Hanif Abdurraqib.
 
From acclaimed spoken word poet Sabrina Benaim comes a dazzling audio-exclusive collection of poems and stories that capture the... Read more

A Book of Nonsense

By: Edward Lear
Narrated by: Gail Wholey
Length: 24 minutes

Step into the world of whimsical absurdity with Edward Lear’s A Book of Nonsense, a delightful collection of limericks and playful rhymes that have enchanted readers and listeners for generations. Narrated with warmth and charm by Gail Wholey, this audiobook brings Lear’s quirky characters and nonsensical humor to life, making it a joy for both... Read more

Unfolding Light

Poems

By: Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Narrated by: Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Length: 4 hours 3 minutes

Poetry, like religion, is the practice of wonder—a way of being open, a way of reaching out to touch the hem of the world’s garment. Like the great spiritual teachers, poetry invites us to be radically present, to inhabit the world a little more closely, to attend a little more lovingly, with an awareness beyond the mere mind. The numinous... Read more