6 Powerful Poetry Collections from New Voices

Queen's fifth book is a brilliant depiction of self-making and self-finding, a testament to our society's obsession with celebrity culture, and an unflinching acknowledgment of the joys and perils of seeking to be seen. This catalog of outfits, meticulously chosen and tenderly recalled, conjures portrait after portrait of a cognizance as it moves from youth through adulthood and into dawning middle age—one ready, finally, to say, "he also called me cutie I am 40 years old he called me girl & my patience for such thoughtlessness has fully waned." Amid America's unfolding conversation about sexual harassment, this is feminist critique that deftly and playfully pays tribute to the many real registers any woman inhabits from moment to moment. Queen's voice is a delight, and her vision of womanhood is at once a consolation and an admonition.