Books like I Shimmer Sometimes, Too by Porsha Olayiwola

A Little Life follows four college friends in New York as they confront trauma, love and the enduring scars of their pasts, weaving themes of friendship, family, and identity into a profound coming‑of‑age story.

Rupi Kaur’s second poetry collection, *The Sun and Her Flowers*, explores themes of growth, healing, and self‑discovery through raw, personal verses about love, loss, and renewal.

Ocean Vuong’s collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds blends precise, evocative language with lyrical sound, capturing intimate moments and the fleeting nature of life in a striking poetic voice.

In Harlem, Xiomara Batista learns to use her voice and verse to fight for herself and her dreams, turning lyrical poetry into her most powerful tool.

**2014 da Vinci Eye Finalist** **ForeWord Reviews‘ 2012 Book of the Year Award Finalist** **2013 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Finalist** “The message in the so-sick-it muse ic is all on the cover, O’Jays style. The bills are pressing but this book (a We) can help you (Now!) gain a stamp of heritage, your own postal traveling shoes, in the office of International (if not Domestic) Acceptance especially if the real tradition, a mature Langston Hughes in a hat, frames your introduction.” —*Boston Review* “Hand feels Simone’s life as if she herself is living it; as if Simone’s ghosts have leapt into her—and she makes artful poems as their hearts beat in her own body.” —*The Mom Egg* “Hand varies the form and voices in her poems deftly into a contemporary blues that speaks to a woman’s creative challenges within the streams of family that flows in unpredictable rhythms.” —*On the Seawall* “…like ‘two souls in a duet.'” —*Library Journal* “When a poem is good, I feel it in my body…a commotion in my pit…this is a collection of commotion.” —*Yes, Poetry* “Monica A. Hand’s *me and Nina* is a beautiful book by a soul survivor. In these poems she sings deep songs of violated intimacy and the hard work of repair. The poems are unsentimental, blood-red, and positively true, note for note, like the singing of Nina Simone herself. Hand has written a moving, deeply satisfying, and unforgettable book.” —Elizabeth Alexander “In *me and Nina* Monica A. Hand depicts, as Nina Simone did, what it is to be gifted and Black in America. She shifts dynamically through voices and forms homemade, received and re-imagined to conjure the music (and Muses) of art and experience. This is a debut fiercely illuminated by declaration and song.” —Terrance Hayes “Monica A. Hand sings us a crushed velvet requiem of Nina Simone. She plumbs Nina’s mysterious bluesline while recounting the scars of her own overcoming. Hand joins the chorus of shouters like Patricia Smith and Wanda Coleman in this searchlight of a book, bearing her voice like a torch for all we’ve gained and lost in the heat of good song.” ―Tyehimba Jess

Nikki Giovanni’s lyrical poems celebrate everyday moments—family, love, memory—using food as a powerful metaphor for sustenance, passion, and remembrance.

A bold exploration of pregnancy, childbirth, and artistic expression through verse, prose, and dialogue.

A collection of poems by Maya Angelou, capturing the pain and triumph of being black and speaking out about history, heartbreak, and love.

An anthology of over four decades of hip‑hop poetry, showcasing the voices that shaped the generation, their culture, music, and style.

Asha Bandele’s nonfiction memoir chronicles her struggle as a single African‑American mother in New York City, detailing how love, loss, and resilience intertwine as she navigates family, work, and personal crisis.