Contemporary best-sellers this week May 11, 2012: Leading the pack on this week’s contemporary best sellers list is Tracy K. Smith’s Life on Mars, landing once again at #1 for the second week in a row. Notable and new to the list is Nathaniel Tarn’s Ins and Outs of Forests and Rivers at #6. In his latest volume, Tarn, a veteran poet and anthropologist, “dives deep into the spiritual and [...] by Harriet Staff

Contemporary best-sellers this week May 4, 2012: This week’s contemporary best-sellers list features a number of new works from established poets. Pulitzer Prize-winner Jorie Graham enters the list at #8 with her latest collection, Place. Graham’s thirteenth book of poetry examines “the ways in which our imagination, intuition, and experience…aid us in navigating a world moving blindly [...] by Harriet Staff

Contemporary best-sellers this week March 30, 2012: As predicted, Billy Collins’s Horoscopes for the Dead (in paperback) tops this week’s contemporary best-seller list. Master of irony and the everyday, Collins’s ninth collection delivers his familiar spin on contemporary American life but this time with a turn toward elegy. Notably new to the list this week is Jonathan Galassi’s [...] by Harriet Staff

Contemporary best sellers this week March 23, 2012: This week on the contemporary best-seller list, two major award-winning poets make their debut in the #1 and #2 slots. Jack Gilbert’s Collected Poems enters the list at the top. Of Gilbert’s work, Publisher’s Weekly writes, “Gilbert has long held legendary status among poetry readers for his wise, hard-won poems about the joys and [...] by Harriet Staff

Contemporary best-sellers this week March 16, 2012: If we experienced a dearth of first-time appearances on last week’s contemporary best-seller list, we make up for it with eight titles making their debut this week. francine j. harris’s first full-length collection allegiance rises to the top of the list. According to her publisher, “allegiance is about Detroit, sort of. Although many of the [...] by Harriet Staff

Contemporary best-sellers this week March 9, 2012: It’s all about Rae Armantrout on this week’s contemporary best-seller list. Money Shot slides into the #1 slot, up from #2 last week. This week, it’s also all about paperbacks adding renewed vigor to the life of a best-seller. Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard (in paperback) claims #2; Christian Wiman’s Every Riven Thing (in paperback) [...] by Harriet Staff

Contemporary best sellers this week March 2, 2012: Three books make their debut on the contemporary best-seller list this week. Adam Clay’s A Hotel Lobby at the Edge of the World checks in at #11; Catherine Carter’s The Swamp Monster at Home enters the list at #15; and Adam Vines ‘s The Coal Life debuts at #29. Returning to the list this week with a vengeance, Rae Armantrout’s Money Shot [...] by Harriet Staff

Contemporary Best Sellers This Week February 24, 2012: D.A. Powell’s latest book Useless Landscape, or A Guide for Boys skyrockets into the top slot on this week’s contemporary best-seller list, knocking Nikky Finney’s Head Off & Split from #1 down to second place. Already garnering accolades from book critics far and wide, Useless Landscape, or A Guide for Boys “condenses [Powell’s] [...] by Harriet Staff

Contemporary best sellers this week February 17, 2012: This week, Peter Gizzi’s Threshold Songs debuts at #20 on the contemporary best-seller list. Possibly Gizzi’s most personal book to date, the poems in this collection explore themes of personal loss in vibrant lyrical intensity with a sense of the poet’s “bewilderment as a citizen in the world.” Publisher’s Weekly describes Gizzi’s [...] by Harriet Staff

August 28-September 4, 2011 September 9, 2011: Christine Deavel’s first full-length collection of poems, Woodnote, debuts on this week’s contemporary best seller list at number 26. Deavel, who co-owns the poetry-only bookstore Open Books in Seattle, often writes a spare, Niedecker-esque line that explores the natural world— “It is possible to / believe in the chrysanthemum / To [...] by Harriet Staff