9 Contemporary Women Poets You Should Definitely Be Reading By Now

Because it's 2017 and poetry is back in style, y'all.

1. Warsan Shire

Amaal Said / Via newyorker.com

You may know her best for being part of Beyoncé's Lemonade, but this young poet has been killing the game since before the iconic album was released last year. Check out her bandcamp site to listen to her audio poem, "warsan versus melancholy (the seven stages of being lonely)."

2. Patricia Lockwood

Via poetryfoundation.org

Known as the "Poet Laureate of Twitter," Patricia Lockwood is a hilariously delightful poet who writes about sexuality, growing up in a religious home, and everything else in between. Possibly her most famous poem, "Rape Joke," is well worth the read.

3. Suheir Hammad

Via imeu.org

Suheir Hammad is a political activist and poet who grew up in Brooklyn. She won the 2009 American Book Award and the Arab American Book award for Poetry 2009 for her book Breaking Poems. In 2011, she did a powerful TED talk in which she performed her own poetry, which you can watch here.

4. Nin Andrews

Via Twitter: @andrewsnin

Nin Andrews is most notably the author of a book of prose poetry titled Why God Is A Woman, and if that doesn't spark your feminist curiosity then honestly idk what will. Check out one of her most recently published poems, "Five Orgasms After Reading Lydia Davis," to get an idea of what she's all about.

5. Lilith Latini

Julieta Salgado / Via poets.org

Lilith Latini is a trans poet based in Philadelphia. Her book, Improvise, Girl, Improvise, was published by Topside Press in 2015. Read three of her short but powerful poems here.

6. Emma Bolden

Via emmabolden.com

Emma Bolden is a feminist poet from Alabama who is best known for her published poetry collection about the witch trials that took place in early modern Europe, titled Maleficae. Read this poem for a taste of her style.

7. Andrea Gibson

Via Facebook: AndreaGibsonPoetry

Andrea Gibson was first inspired to become a poet when they attended their first open-mic in Denver, CO. Since then, they have been the Denver Grand Slam Champion four times and became the first poet to win the Women of the World Poetry Slam in Detroit. Gibson is a social activist, particularly on LGBTQ+ and gender issues. You can watch Andrea perform their groundbreaking poetry here.

8. Amaal Said

Via amaalsaid.com

Amaal Said is a Danish-born Somali photographer and poet living in London. On her website, she says of her work, "I'm concerned with storytelling and how best I can connect with people to document their stories." Her poem "I keep trying to lose my body" is one example of how she accomplishes this goal.

9. Sina Queyras

Via sinaqueyras.com

Sina Queyras is a Canadian poet with a unique literary blog called Lemon Hound. Her most recent work, MXT, is a poignant book of poetry about measuring grief. Check out her poem "Death & Co." from her upcoming book titled My Ariel.