Poetry Audiobooks | Literature

"From the acclaimed Beat Generation author of On the Road and The Dharma Bums come eight extended poems in which he reflects on the urban settings he finds himself in. Best known for his novels, Jack Kerouac is also an important poet. In these poems, Kerouac writes from the heart of experience in the music of language, employing the same instrumental blues and jazz forms that he used in another book of poems, Mexico City Blues. The poems included here, written between 1954 and 1961, are: - “San Francisco Blues”- “Richmond Hill Blues”- “Bowery Blues”- “MacDougal Street Blues”- “Desolation Blues”- “Orizaba 210 Blues”- “Orlanda Blues”- “Cerrada Medellin Blues”The author explains his musical influences and the self-imposed length of the poems: “In my system, the form of blues choruses is limited by the small page of the breastpocket notebook in which they are written, like the form of a set number of bars in a jazz blues chorus, and so sometimes the word-meaning can carry from one chorus into another, or not, just like the phrase-meaning can carry harmonically from one chorus to another, or not, in jazz, so that, in these blues as in jazz, the form is determined by time, and by the musician’s spontaneous phrasing & harmonizing with the beat of time as if waves & waves on by in measured choruses.”—Jack Kerouac Book of Blues is an exuberant foray into language and consciousness, rich with imagery, propelled by rhythm, and based in a reverent attentiveness to the moment."

Jack Kerouac (Author), Andrew Eiden (Narrator)

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Mexico City Blues

"From the renowned Beat writer Jack Kerouac comes this important work of lyric verse, one of his most formally inventive books. A long poem in Kerouac’s freewheeling and spontaneous improvisational style, Mexico City Blues is a unique epic of sound, rhythm, and religion. Called superb sensory meditations, the poetry takes in life, death, and spirituality but roams widely across continents and cultures. Memories, fantasies, dreams, and surrealistic free association are all lyrically combined in the loose format inspired by jazz and the blues. Considered a major contribution to post-World War II American poetics, it opened up a new way of writing that had a major influence on others, including Allen Ginsberg, Robert Creeley, Michael McClure, and Bob Dylan. Kerouac began writing the 242 stanzas, or “choruses', that became Mexico City Blues while living in Mexico City, with the stanzas defined only by the size of Kerouac’s notebook page. Written between 1954 and 1957 and first published in 1959, it is Kerouac’s most important verse work. This poetry—wild, joyful, sad, and magnificent—is a surreal and all-encompassing experience and reveals the portrait of a complex man endowed with deep sensitivity."

Jack Kerouac (Author), Andrew Eiden (Narrator)

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I'm Sad and Horny

"From actress Haley Lu Richardson—a raw, beautiful, and playful debut collection of poetry about the chaos of being a twenty-something girl in this world. i always wanted to be a pop star so i could catharize my woes, heartbreak and general experience of life in whatever vulnerable, valiant, or petty ways i wished unfortunately i'm tone deaf so instead, i wrote these poems i share them with hope you relate and resonate with the words in ways my favorite songs resonate with me i hope they make you giggle i hope they make you feel a little more okay with your own life and even a smidge less alone thanks for buying my sad 'n' horny take on existing in my twenties love, haley lu I'm Sad and Horny explores the highs and lows of living life deeply in your twenties. From ghostings and breakups to depression masturbating and finding a little inner peace—Haley Lu captures it all. Through wit and tears, this poetry collection showcases the versatility and personal side of the critically acclaimed actress. Thoughtfully designed with bold and evocative art accompanying each poem, I'm Sad and Horny celebrates the relatable and rewarding journey of loving too hard and finding your way home."

Haley Lu Richardson (Author), tbd (Narrator)

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Queries on Death, the Infinite and Irrational Numbers

"'Beneath the sharp social satire lurks a psychological insight, a sensitivity to a profound cultural inheritance' The Times In 2023 the poet John Stammers was struck by a sudden and life-threatening health crisis and came very close to death. By some miracle he survived and was able to return to the poems he had been writing which now, inevitably, took a darker turn. Queries on Death, the Infinite and Irrational Numbers is the book that was stopped in its tracks that day and which subsequently focused in pursuit of the words that might contain and question such experience. Central to this enquiry is the Grand Guignol humour of 'Death Songs' - a sequence born of his hospitalization and transcribed in its aftermath. Stammers is a frank and clear-eyed witness on the nature of death and its concomitants, drawing variously on Berryman's famous work and on a wildly surreal hallucinatory experience that can accompany extreme bodily crises. Set around 'Death Songs' are poems of technical surprise alongside those of candid tenderness; poems that consider love and love-making within a wider emotional and intellectual context. Here are epistemological meditations that nonetheless preserve the 'essential gaudiness' of poetry; and elegies for artist friends that consider the ephemeral nature of fame and charisma. More than ever before, Stammers brings a philosophical dimension that raises the stakes from the purely literary into the genuinely metaphysical. Queries on Death, the Infinite and Irrational Numbers marks the bravura return of one of contemporary poetry's foremost stylists. 'A frame of reference ranging from the scabrous to the desolately chic, as if Tristan Corbière were trying to get over an affair with Angelina Jolie' Clive James on Interior Night"

John Stammers (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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The Peace of Wild Things: And Other Poems

"Brought to you by Penguin. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. The poems of Wendell Berry invite us to stop, to think, to see the world around us, and to savour what is good. Here are consoling verses of hope and of healing; short, simple meditations on love, death, friendship, memory and belonging; luminous hymns to the land, the cycles of nature and the seasons as they ebb and flow. Here is the peace of wild things. © Wendell Berry 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Wendell Berry (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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Dog Show

"'Collins remains the most companionable of poetic companions.' - The New York Times Billy Collins's poetry collection celebrates the joy of our canine best friends, honouring the love we feel for the animals who play such vital roles in our lives. In twenty-five poems, Collins distills the many ways dogs warm our hearts, from the happiness we experience as we watch a dog run unencumbered by our burdens, to the silliness of cradling a dog in our arms as we step on the scale together. Turning his inimitable eye and ear to the complexities of dog behaviour, Collins ponders all that these winning creatures give us and what we learn from them about ourselves. For more than four decades Collins has delighted readers with his insight, wit, and clear poetic voice. In Dog Show, 'America's favorite poet' (The Wall Street Journal) illuminates man's best friend (sorry, cat lovers). Accompanied by Pamela Sztybel's watercolours, which effortlessly depict a dog's humble grace, Dog Show reveals the profound role these majestic animals play in our lives and the meaning they give us."

Billy Collins (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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I Climb the Mesas: Selected Poems of Paula Gunn Allen

"An overdue retrospective of a pathbreaking feminist Native American poet, with a foreword from activist and educator Lee Francis IV I Climb the Mesas: Collected Poems of Paula Gunn Allen span the landscapes of the Southwest, excavate popular misunderstandings of Native women through history, and perhaps most importantly shines a light on a foremother of Native poetry, who was herself an icon to feminist legends like Gloria Steinem. Including forewords from her nephew, activist and educator Lee Francis IV, as well as her daughter, this volume of the Laguna Pueblo poet spans her decades-long career, including hard-to-find, limited edition chapbooks."

Paula Gunn Allen (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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Radicle, or When the World Lived Inside Us: Poems

"From the New York Times bestselling author Everything All at Once comes a beautiful poetry collection exploring motherhood, grief, the unending road to healing, and the redeeming power of love. The word radicle is defined as the root of a plant embryo, the first organ to appear when a seed germinates. It grows downward into the soil, anchoring the seedling, a symbol of growth and grounding. Steph Catudal is beloved for her poignant meditations on loss, uncertainty, and illness, and the raw, wise reflections of her “brilliant, unflinching, lyrical” (Matt Haig) New York Times bestselling memoir Everything All At Once. Now, Catudal brings her trademark wisdom and strong lyrical voice to bear in her first collection of verse, delving into the challenging yet often rich parts of life people often lack the courage to face. Radicle, or When the World Lived Inside Us explores universal themes of motherhood, our relationship to the natural world, the nature of suffering, the circular process of healing, and what it means to stay present in the midst of it all. Loving myself has been like watching starlings nest: braving the elements for a chance to witness some part of me live on, gathering twigs and twine for the promise of future, to reach for my own hand, fire and all, and say good girl, good girl it's time to come home. "

Stephanie Catudal (Author), Steph Catudal (Narrator)

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A Bright and Borrowed Light: Poems

"A gorgeous collection of poems exploring womanhood, sisterhood, love, loss, and longing, for people who find catharsis in poems, or people who have always wanted to read poetry, but don’t know where to start. “How little / love is. How worth everything.” Such is the central theme of Courtney Kampa’s sharp yet tender “Skin and Other Weapons,” one in a collection of beautiful, intimate poems examining the little shared experiences that make us human. Courtney herself was the kind of person who made life better just for knowing her, and though she tragically passed in 2022, her work carries her brilliance and light forward. While Courtney is no longer here, her husband Will Anderson notes that converting readers to poetry was one of her greatest joys, and this collection will make a convert of any reader. Courtney wrote for the girls she was raised with and the women she was raised by. She wrote for herself—which is to say, she wrote for so many of us. In “Cartography,” a group of friends dissects the end of a relationship with a woman who, through the telling, becomes “meaner now, and / more beautiful.” In “The Rules” she writes “I don’t believe in girlhood. I don’t believe / we are ever small, or ever don’t know what it is / we shouldn’t know,” challenging the sweetness and innocence constantly attributed to little girls who live in a world that is neither sweet nor innocent. In “The Cool Kids,” the speaker, desperate to belong but horrified by what her peers require of her, wonders “if this is what it feels like / to be pinned down by the sky.” Individually, each of these poems feels like advice from a friend who knows you deeply and provides a sense of comfort and validation. Taken as a whole, the collection tells a larger story of growth—of the love and loss involved—and learning how to exist in the world. As accessible as they are transcendent, these poems will leave readers feeling as if they have been “anointed with a bright and borrowed light.”"

Courtney Kampa (Author), Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

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The People's Purge: Words of a Goat Princess Volume II

"A love letter to the healing power of collaboration and feeling seen, The People's Purge: Words of a Goat Princess Vol II is a must-read for anyone looking to rid themselves of the guilt of existing and get lost in the razor sharp mind of Jessie Reyez. Born from a popular long-running series on her Instagram page, the latest poetic offering from pop star and bestselling author Jessie Reyez is a collection of in-the-moment poems written in response to fan-supplied prompts. Whether being asked to write about a dead leaf on the ground, gaslighting, being ghosted by a date, abandonment, addiction, or a sunset over still waters, Jessie responds with a heartfelt original poem that turns a seed of an idea into a garden of encouragement, vulnerability, honesty, and love. The People's Purge: Words of a Goat Princess Volume II is the vibrant bouquet picked from this lush community garden."

Jessie Reyez (Author), Jessie Reyez (Narrator)

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Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation

"Reconnect with your intuition, heal gently, and manifest your dreams with intention-one season, one cycle, one phase at a time. From Melody Godfred, author of the international bestseller Self Love Poetry for Thinkers & Feelers, comes Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation, a one-of-a-kind poetry book where the moon becomes your manifestation guide. This isn't a book that pushes you forward. Moon Garden welcomes you home to yourself. Inspired by the lunar cycles and set in an ethereal moon garden, this spiritual poetry collection combines deeply personal poems and meditative prose to help you slow down, soften, and realign-with your inner truth and the rhythm of nature. Moon Garden reminds us that personal growth and emotional healing don't follow a straight line. Like nature, transformation unfolds like a garden, blooming in its own time. Whether you're in a season of planting, tending, harvesting, or rest, this book offers wisdom, encouragement, and space to reflect on where you are-and where you're meant to go next as you begin to move through the world with greater intention and presence. More than a poetry book, Moon Garden: Poetry for Manifestation is a year-long companion for dream fulfillment and inner peace, guided by the quiet beauty of the night and the light that already lives within you."

Melody Godfred (Author), Melody Godfred (Narrator)

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The Thing About Falling: Poems

"From Grammy award-winning spoken word artist and poet Tarriona 'Tank' Ball, comes a powerful second collection of poetry about falling out of love and into a renewed sense of self. After getting "vulnerable AF" on her 2021 book tour, Tank realized she was truly ready to move on from her first love. In The Thing About Falling, she writes about that experience as well as what followed-a period of shallow comfort, followed by a much deeper transformation. Organized in sections that follow the author from heartbreak to rebound to new love, the poetry that flows is an honest, witty, and effortlessly charming account of one woman's journey back to herself. For the teenage reader facing their first heartbreak or the thirty-something looking for the strength to risk love again, The Thing About Falling is a heartfelt reminder that, love is always worth the fall."

Tarriona Ball (Author), Tarriona Ball (Narrator)

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Poetry Audiobooks in Literature