Poetry Foundation Magazine, January/February 2025

Poetry Foundation Magazine

by Elizabeth Acevedo

Poetry Foundation Magazine
Young People's Poetry

Featuring:
Carole Boston Weatherford
Zoe Dorado
Margarita Engle
Fatimah Asghar

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

Published January 1, 2025

About the author

ELIZABETH ACEVEDO is a New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X, With the Fire on High, and Clap When You Land. Her critically-acclaimed debut novel, The Poet X, won the 2018 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. She is also the recipient of the Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction, the CILIP Carnegie Medal, and the Boston Globe-Hornbook Award. Additionally, she was honored with the 2019 Pure Belpré Author Award for celebrating, affirming, and portraying Latinx culture and experience.

Her books include, Beastgirl & Other Origin Myths (YesYes 2016), The Poet X (HarperCollins, 2018), & With The Fire On High (HarperCollins, 2019), and Clap When You Land (HarperCollins, 2020).

She holds a BA in Performing Arts from The George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo has been a fellow of Cave Canem, Cantomundo, and a participant in the Callaloo Writer’s Workshops. She is a National Poetry Slam Champion, and resides in Washington, DC with her love.

Reviews

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stopped reading Poetry magazine several years ago. I thought it had some awful poetry in it. I decided to start another subscription. I was griping about this issue before I even started reading. But I gave it a shot and became enthralled.

[Samuel Smith]

There's not much good to say about this. I hope they don't do this kind of thing again; I don't subscribe to this magazine to get collections of juvenalia.

Bright spots: "Wanderlust," "Where the Sky Is," "Sycamore"

[Brittany Mishra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice collection of poems about youth and coming of age. I like these themed volumes and feel the editor has more narrow of focus to find some true poetic gems.

[Chelsey]

I’m so glad I picked this up— it’s been a while since I’ve given poetry a chance. I found this collection to be accessible, nostalgic, and full of surprising delights.

[Alan Zhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe my favorite issue of Poetry so far - makes sense, given it's Young People's Poetry, and, indeed, I am, despite myself, young.

Favorites:

Audrey Rose's "the crop top quandry—dept. store edition": "I was just a math major wondering \ what the odds were of this happening to me"

Vanessa Deering's "so coffee is a laxative & i am writing this poem on the toilet", for its mention of the building 2 bathrooms

Jay Jerbi's "How Did You Know You Were Trans?" and Max Fischer's "Closets Are Made Of Midwestern Thunderstorms" for the relevant trans (and midwestern) reasons

Trina Das' "Scissors Like Caesars"; Zoe Dorado's "Prestige"; Shira Haus' "Universal Truths"; Fatimah Asghar's "He Was Chaotic"; Kyle Okeke's "The Sun, in Lagos"

[claire r]

Book bingo: poetry or novel in verse
A subscription to Poetry Foundation was my favorite purchase for myself this past year! I really liked Prestige, Universal Truths, He Was Chaotic, Burn Theory, and Where the Sky Is

[Michael Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can tell that the poetry scene is pigeonholing young poets into writing about their identity, with hardly any room for other topics. This makes for a poetry collection that can't speak to the fullness of the human condition.

[Kiera Safford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Standouts-
Elementary magic, probably my favorite
The crop top quandary
Elieen
Ars Poetica: Ambulthiyal Abecedarian
Girl blood ritual one (amazzzziiinnnggg, will be going in my commonplace)

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a lot of promising poet's in this issue, hopefully they keep progressing with their craft

[Maristela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

elizabeth acevedo curated...mfa from umd. reminded of workshop first stabs at identity as a YA