Poetry Foundation Magazine, June 2026

by Adrian Matejka (Editor)

Poetry June 2026 - Featuring Tomás Q. Morín, Rae Armantrout, Christell Victoria Roach, jason b. crawford, Ahmad Almallah, Shane McCrae, and Jan Beatty. With translations from the Polish, Spanish, and French

Genres: Poetry

87 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2026

About the author

Adrian Matejka was born in Nuremberg, Germany but grew up in California and Indiana. He is a graduate of Indiana University and the MFA program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His first collection of poems, The Devils Garden, won the 2002 Kinereth Gensler Award from Alice James Books. His second collection, Mixology, was a winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series and was published by Penguin Books in 2009. Mixology was subsequently nominated for an NAACP Image Award. He is a Cave Canem fellow and is the recipient of two Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry 2010, Crab Orchard Review, Gulf Coast, Pleiades, and Prairie Schooner among other journals and anthologies. He teaches at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville where he serves as Poetry Editor for Souwester."

Reviews

[faby]

Bought the year-long subscription after years of subscribing to their daily newsletter. Favourites include: Human Torpedo by Jan Beatty, Untitled Love Poem For… by Jason B Crawford, Bargains by Winniebell Xinyu Zong, A Short Poem About Prague by Václav Hrabě (tr. by CE Janecek), Anti Poetica by Maryhilda Obasiota Ibe, Ars Poetica del Cuidador de asnos, Andre Breton dixit by Manuel Becerra, and ode to a tardigrade by Dayna Patterson.

I loved loved loved the translated poetry in this book, the poems were lovely and the translators’ works and notes about their collaborations with the respective poets were amazing

[Alan Zhu]

very busy of late, so I read this quite slowly. I think lots of okay-good poems but not much that made me really gasp, but, then again, I have been very busy of late. so who knows

some favorites jason b. crawford's "Untitled Love Poem For..."; Václav Hrabě (tr. C.E. Janecek)'s "Romance"; Christell Victoria Roach's "Moon over Miami"; Despy Boutris's "Bell Canyon Still Life"; Shane McRae's "Boats"; Brian Tierney's "The Days of Our Lives"

[Productive Procrastinator]

The highlights were easily: “Moon Over Miami” by Christell Victoria Roach and “Night Outside a Window” by Shane McRae. Both stunning works. Far above the other poems in this issue in terms of their sustained moods and controlled images (or, for the latter, its controlled ambiguity, an architectural haziness).

[Raytown]

Manuel Becerra's poems were gorgeous. Unfortunately little else in this volume seemed to me to hit the mark.

[Ren]

Absolutely sensational to read in one sitting on the beach

[Timothy]

Better than May 2026 issue. A lot of good 4 star poems

[Ajp]

I don’t know much about poetry — I took precisely one literature course in college — but my favourite poems usually begin with a close/precise observation (of something trivial, say, in nature, or human behaviour) and then pivot to a more generalized truth. (You could call it a mote/cosmos juxtaposition.) David Roderick’s poems follow this format, except instead of the universal human truth, we get an elevator pitch for a new phone app. Who needs philosophical insights when there’s an app for all that? Deviously delightful.

POSTSCRIPT
When Christian Wiman derides easy verse that offers “instant epiphanies (add an anecdote and stir)” I worry that he’s referring to those very same “mote/cosmos” poems. It’s like finding out that your favorite Hallmark card is actually cringey.

[Sarah]

Favorites:

Human Torpedo by Jan Beatty
Self-Portrait by Winniebell Xinyu Zong
Just Like you, Mother by Ahmad Almallah
Autumn by Václav Hrabe
Siren Blues, Coloredtown, Miami by Christell Victoria Roach
Bell Canyon Still Life by Despy Boutris
Hearts, Books of Love by Hélène Dorion