The American Booksellers Association’s specialty bestseller lists provide a current snapshot of what’s selling in indie bookstores nationwide.
Here is the Indie Poetry Bestseller List, based on sales at independent bookstores nationwide for the eight-week period ending August 31, 2025.
1. Devotions
Mary Oliver, Penguin, $20, 9780399563263
2. The Odyssey
Homer, Emily Wilson (Transl.), W. W. Norton & Company, $18.95, 9780393356250
3. You Better Be Lightning
Andrea Gibson, Button Poetry, $18, 9781943735990
4. The Iliad
Homer, Emily Wilson (Transl.), W. W. Norton & Company, $19.99, 9781324076148
5. Dog Songs
Mary Oliver, Penguin, $17, 9780143125839
6. Take Me With You
Andrea Gibson, Plume, $18, 9780735219519
7. You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World
Ada Limón, Milkweed Editions, $20, 9781571315694
8. Lord of the Butterflies
Andrea Gibson, Button Poetry, $16, 9781943735426
9. Dream Work: Poems
Mary Oliver, Penguin, $17, 9780593832677
10. Poetry Is Not a Luxury: Poems for All Seasons
Anonymous, Washington Square Press, $24, 9781668062555
11. Time Is a Mother
Ocean Vuong, Penguin, $17, 9780593300251
12. The Odyssey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Homer, Robert Fagles (Transl.), Penguin, $20, 9780140268867
13. Night Sky with Exit Wounds
Ocean Vuong, Copper Canyon Press, $16, 9781556594953
14. Love Poems
Pablo Neruda, New Directions, $11.95, 9780811217293
15. A Rebellion of Care: Poems and Essays
David Gate, Convergent Books, $18.99, 9780593602171
16. Milk and Honey: 10th Anniversary Collector's Edition
Rupi Kaur, Andrews McMeel Publishing, $24.99, 9781524892876
17. Cat Poems
Tynan Kogane (Ed.), New Directions, $11.95, 9780811227506
18. Pansy: Poems
Andrea Gibson, Write Bloody Publishing, $18, 9781938912986
19. The Sun and Her Flowers
Rupi Kaur, Andrews McMeel Publishing, $16.99, 9781449486792
20. Love Is for All of Us: Poems of Tenderness and Belonging from the LGBTQ+ Community and Friends
James Crews (Ed.), Brad Peacock (Ed.), Lisa Congdon (Illus.), Storey Publishing, LLC, $19.99, 9781635868951
21. Forest of Noise: Poems
Mosab Abu Toha, Knopf, $22, 9780593803974
22. Water
Rumi, Haleh Liza Gafori (Transl.), NYRB Classics, $14.95, 9781681379166
23. The Aeneid
Virgil, Scott McGill (Transl.), Susannah Wright (Transl.), Liveright, $39.99, 9781324096436
24. Super Gay Poems: LGBTQIA+ Poetry After Stonewall
Stephanie Burt, Belknap Press, $29.95, 9780674273115
25. Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns
Andrea Gibson, Write Bloody Publishing, $18, 9780981521305