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Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry
24th Poet Laureate of the United States Ada Limón inspires us to see poetry as much more than just words—as a powerful force for healing, a call to action, and a vibrant celebration of humanity’s many voices.
Ada Limón—celebrated poet laureate and 2023 MacArthur fellow—takes us on an inspiring journey into a world where poetry is both a soothing balm for the soul and a spark for transformation. With her blend of accessible yet profound prose, Limón delivers a powerful poetry has the ability to heal, connect, and remind us of our shared humanity.
Limón’s mission to make poetry approachable shines brightly in this slim but impactful book. Recognized as a 2024 Time magazine Woman of the Year for her commitment to bringing poetry into everyday lives, Limón passionately argues that poetry is essential to understanding ourselves—our tenderness, courage, imperfections, and our deep, unshakable worthiness of love.
Drawing from her own experiences as the 24th US poet laureate, Limón shares how poetry connects us not only to each other but to the natural world. This theme is at the heart of her project You Are Here, which celebrates the beauty of our environment and our place in it. Her prose, like her poetry, feels like an open invitation—welcoming readers of all backgrounds to explore the richness of human experience through verse.
Fans of Robin Wall Kimmerer, Matthew Zapruder, or Jesmyn Ward will find a kindred spirit in Against Breaking—which offers a refuge, a reminder of the resilience and beauty found within us and all around us. As Limón writes with heartfelt clarity, “If you need to remember what makes us human, tender, brave, flawed, and worthy of love, you need poetry.”
Ada Limón—celebrated poet laureate and 2023 MacArthur fellow—takes us on an inspiring journey into a world where poetry is both a soothing balm for the soul and a spark for transformation. With her blend of accessible yet profound prose, Limón delivers a powerful poetry has the ability to heal, connect, and remind us of our shared humanity.
Limón’s mission to make poetry approachable shines brightly in this slim but impactful book. Recognized as a 2024 Time magazine Woman of the Year for her commitment to bringing poetry into everyday lives, Limón passionately argues that poetry is essential to understanding ourselves—our tenderness, courage, imperfections, and our deep, unshakable worthiness of love.
Drawing from her own experiences as the 24th US poet laureate, Limón shares how poetry connects us not only to each other but to the natural world. This theme is at the heart of her project You Are Here, which celebrates the beauty of our environment and our place in it. Her prose, like her poetry, feels like an open invitation—welcoming readers of all backgrounds to explore the richness of human experience through verse.
Fans of Robin Wall Kimmerer, Matthew Zapruder, or Jesmyn Ward will find a kindred spirit in Against Breaking—which offers a refuge, a reminder of the resilience and beauty found within us and all around us. As Limón writes with heartfelt clarity, “If you need to remember what makes us human, tender, brave, flawed, and worthy of love, you need poetry.”
80 pages, Hardcover
Published April 7, 2026
About the author
Ada Limon
35 books2,324 followersAda Limón is the author of three books of poetry, Lucky Wreck, This Big Fake World, and Sharks in the Rivers. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from New York University. Limón has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, and was one of the judges for the 2013 National Book Award in Poetry. She works as a creative writing instructor and a freelance writer while splitting her time between Lexington, Kentucky and Sonoma, California (with a great deal of New York in between). Her new book of poems, Bright Dead Things is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions in 2015.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
May 21, 2026
Ada Limón has my heart. I had to resist the temptation to devour this essay in beautiful book form in one sitting (and no doubt I’ll pick it up to read it again and again that way at only 50 pages). I wanted to savor it. I wanted to think about it. I wanted to start every morning this week with her inspiring words (and plenty of words from other poets she references and quotes). This essay is prose yet still contains her lyrical style and instant recognizability. The way she writes both puts me at ease and inspires me to look closer, slow down, notice more, appreciate the little things. In short, she offered me hope that beauty, connection and gratitude are not broken.
I strongly encourage anyone who believes they don’t like poetry to read this essay as a primer. I’m already a convert to its necessity and still found so much inspiration here. Honestly, I can’t wait to read it again.
I strongly encourage anyone who believes they don’t like poetry to read this essay as a primer. I’m already a convert to its necessity and still found so much inspiration here. Honestly, I can’t wait to read it again.
April 11, 2026
I have never felt scooped up and held by language before, until reading Limón’s work. Another beautiful reminder of why poetry can heal, open large and small doors, and allow us to look inside, if we choose.
April 8, 2026
If you want to learn poetry, this is less than 50 short pages on what poetry is.
Thank you Ada Limon.
Thank you Ada Limon.
April 23, 2026
Ada Limón reads the speech she gave at the end of her term as US Poet Laureate in this short audiobook. She lists all the wonderful reasons people should read poetry, using quotes from poems to back up her views. A delight.
June 10, 2026
Simply gorgeous. I want to be Ada Limón when I grow up (again). She verbalized the link between writing and paying attention, loving, so clearly. This is exactly how I always feel & she’s translated it to words: “If you’ve ever wondered what someone was thinking or how they remembered a certain event or how images unfolded in their minds, and what the inside of their thought patterns might look like…then you’ve wondered what their poems might look like. You’ve wanted to open their secret selves like one might split a rock to find a geode inside, and that geode, that sparkling surprise-that’s poetry”
April 28, 2026
A lovely, hopeful read I'll return to again. It's sending me off to re-explore my poetry bookshelves (that I haven't touched enough since my contemplative English major years). How could I forget that poetry is an antidote or balm for these times?
I received a copy through a Goodreads giveaway.
I received a copy through a Goodreads giveaway.
April 20, 2026
Love, and learn to love, the vitalness of poetry
“It’s my belief that poetry is something we are all making together, and it belongs to everyone around this planet. And it does not believe in nations, or borders, or cruelty, or power for power’s sake, or wars, or violence, or causing harm; poetry wants us to be our free and best selves, open to wonder and open to making a life that matters—both big and small,” writes Poet Laureate Ada Limón at the end of Against Breaking, which is the powerful and uplifting text of the speech she gave at the end of her term as United States Poet Laureate. Limón wants each of us to live, to find and write beauty and sorrow and rage and delight. We are poetry, she says, write it, even in secret. “You see, if we are lucky enough to live a life in poetry, we are never alone—we are never alone because everyone who has ever written is with us,” Limón offers.
“It’s my belief that poetry is something we are all making together, and it belongs to everyone around this planet. And it does not believe in nations, or borders, or cruelty, or power for power’s sake, or wars, or violence, or causing harm; poetry wants us to be our free and best selves, open to wonder and open to making a life that matters—both big and small,” writes Poet Laureate Ada Limón at the end of Against Breaking, which is the powerful and uplifting text of the speech she gave at the end of her term as United States Poet Laureate. Limón wants each of us to live, to find and write beauty and sorrow and rage and delight. We are poetry, she says, write it, even in secret. “You see, if we are lucky enough to live a life in poetry, we are never alone—we are never alone because everyone who has ever written is with us,” Limón offers.
April 10, 2026
short n sweet
Read
April 17, 2026Powerful!
Ada Limón’s closing lecture after being selected as the 24th Poet Laurette of the United States, Against Breaking: On The Power of Poetry is a must listen for ANYONE who wants to get more into poetry!
Ms. Limón used the 50 minutes she was given as an opportunity to “make a case for poetry”, and make a case she did! Limón pulled out so many quotes from so many poems that by the end of the audiobook I had a list full of poets to go research!
I truly cannot overstate how much Ada Limón’s love for poetry shines through this essay. Her belief that poetry makes us braver, that poetry does the work of opening us up to our feelings, that poetry is a container for the heart. I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook, and Ada Limòn had some GEMS on why AI Art could never be authentic.
“Poetry is a way of testing for humanity. Individuality. If you’ve ever wondered what someone was thinking, or how they remembered a certain event, or how images unfold in their mind, and what the inside of their thought patterns might look like, then you’ve wondered what their poems might sound like.”
Ada Limón’s closing lecture after being selected as the 24th Poet Laurette of the United States, Against Breaking: On The Power of Poetry is a must listen for ANYONE who wants to get more into poetry!
Ms. Limón used the 50 minutes she was given as an opportunity to “make a case for poetry”, and make a case she did! Limón pulled out so many quotes from so many poems that by the end of the audiobook I had a list full of poets to go research!
I truly cannot overstate how much Ada Limón’s love for poetry shines through this essay. Her belief that poetry makes us braver, that poetry does the work of opening us up to our feelings, that poetry is a container for the heart. I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook, and Ada Limòn had some GEMS on why AI Art could never be authentic.
“Poetry is a way of testing for humanity. Individuality. If you’ve ever wondered what someone was thinking, or how they remembered a certain event, or how images unfold in their mind, and what the inside of their thought patterns might look like, then you’ve wondered what their poems might sound like.”
May 25, 2026
Thoughtful, timely and inspirational lecture for Ada Limon as she transitioned out of being the Poet Laureate at the end of the Biden administration. Poetry is a gift, and this made me want to read more poetry. I loved this quote (among lots of others) “A big life requires a small life. They do not exist without each other.”
April 14, 2026
So real, beautiful, and inspiring <3
April 16, 2026
“When you want to create a safe space to stand in, to breathe in, to gather courage, to find your hope again, to find your strength again, you can stand in poetry.”
April 15, 2026
I admire Ada Limón’s poetry deeply, so I came to Against Breaking with high expectations.
The book offers a sincere and accessible reflection on poetry’s value — its capacity to sustain, to witness, and to connect. There is clarity and warmth here, especially for readers less familiar with poetry.
But I found myself wanting a more searching or distinctive perspective. Many of the reflections remain within well-established ideas about what poetry does, without quite extending or complicating them. Given the precision and originality of Limón’s poems, this feels like a missed opportunity.
A thoughtful book, but one that ultimately sends me back to her poems, where her voice feels sharper and more fully alive.
The book offers a sincere and accessible reflection on poetry’s value — its capacity to sustain, to witness, and to connect. There is clarity and warmth here, especially for readers less familiar with poetry.
But I found myself wanting a more searching or distinctive perspective. Many of the reflections remain within well-established ideas about what poetry does, without quite extending or complicating them. Given the precision and originality of Limón’s poems, this feels like a missed opportunity.
A thoughtful book, but one that ultimately sends me back to her poems, where her voice feels sharper and more fully alive.
April 17, 2026
She's right, of course. It's poetry you want when life gets to be too much.
May 3, 2026
Poetry Is a Lifeline From Survival to Becoming
In Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry, Ada Limón speaks directly to something many people feel but do not always say. People often poke fun at poets, at poetry, and at the way we think and express ourselves.
I have experienced that myself. I explain things in detail. I notice small moments. Even something as simple as a robin waiting for me when I come home becomes a full story in my mind, “welcome home, sweet lady who feeds me.” Not everyone understands that way of seeing the world.
That is why this line on page 6 stood out so much. She understands the impulse to roll your eyes at poetry. And yet, she reminds us that when so much in the world feels urgent and overwhelming, poetry is not unnecessary. It is a lifeline.
One line that stayed with me deeply is: “This suffering might make for a good poem… or this wonder…”
That line is everything.
Because my own writing began in suffering. My first book came from pain and from trying to process what I had been through. But as I have continued writing, I have seen my voice evolve:
Book 1: Suffering, awakening, survival
Book 2: Strength, rediscovery, grounding
That one line feels like a bridge between both of them.
It reminds me that I do not have to choose between writing from pain or writing from beauty.
Both are true. Both belong.
Another powerful reminder in this book is that poetry can help us “get through this day to the next,” while also helping us “gather strength collectively.” That stayed with me, because poetry is not only personal. It connects us and reminds us we are not alone.
What also resonated deeply is the idea of possibility. Questioning what we have been told. Shifting the center. Allowing something new to begin.
For me, my faith and healing became that center. I came from things that could have defined me, but I questioned them. I chose to grow. I chose to create a new life.
This book reminded me to keep noticing, not just the pain, but the wonder too.
And next time I find myself in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I will not just see it as a place.
I will be looking for poetry in it.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever questioned poetry, needed encouragement, or simply needed something to help them keep going.
In Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry, Ada Limón speaks directly to something many people feel but do not always say. People often poke fun at poets, at poetry, and at the way we think and express ourselves.
I have experienced that myself. I explain things in detail. I notice small moments. Even something as simple as a robin waiting for me when I come home becomes a full story in my mind, “welcome home, sweet lady who feeds me.” Not everyone understands that way of seeing the world.
That is why this line on page 6 stood out so much. She understands the impulse to roll your eyes at poetry. And yet, she reminds us that when so much in the world feels urgent and overwhelming, poetry is not unnecessary. It is a lifeline.
One line that stayed with me deeply is: “This suffering might make for a good poem… or this wonder…”
That line is everything.
Because my own writing began in suffering. My first book came from pain and from trying to process what I had been through. But as I have continued writing, I have seen my voice evolve:
Book 1: Suffering, awakening, survival
Book 2: Strength, rediscovery, grounding
That one line feels like a bridge between both of them.
It reminds me that I do not have to choose between writing from pain or writing from beauty.
Both are true. Both belong.
Another powerful reminder in this book is that poetry can help us “get through this day to the next,” while also helping us “gather strength collectively.” That stayed with me, because poetry is not only personal. It connects us and reminds us we are not alone.
What also resonated deeply is the idea of possibility. Questioning what we have been told. Shifting the center. Allowing something new to begin.
For me, my faith and healing became that center. I came from things that could have defined me, but I questioned them. I chose to grow. I chose to create a new life.
This book reminded me to keep noticing, not just the pain, but the wonder too.
And next time I find myself in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I will not just see it as a place.
I will be looking for poetry in it.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever questioned poetry, needed encouragement, or simply needed something to help them keep going.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Against Breaking is a slim book that manages to feel both intimate and expansive. Ada Limón writes with the same clarity, warmth, and emotional intelligence that make her poetry so resonant, and here she makes a compelling, generous case for why poetry matters, not as an academic exercise, but as a part of being human.
Drawing on her experience as the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States, Limón reflects on poetry as a force for connection, healing, and attention. Her prose is accessible without ever being simplistic; it’s thoughtful, inviting, and deeply humane. This is not a book that tells you what poetry should be, but one that gently opens a door and says: come in, this is for you, too.
One of the most moving threads in the book is her insistence on tenderness, not as weakness, but as courage. Limón writes about worthiness, about paying attention to the natural world, and about the way language can tether us to one another in fractured times. Her You Are Here project, which centers place, environment, and belonging, underscores how poetry can reorient us toward care, for the land, for others, and for ourselves.
What I loved most is how welcoming this book feels. It doesn’t demand prior knowledge or reverence for poetry; instead, it meets the reader exactly where they are. Limón’s writing reminds us that noticing is an ethical act, and that beauty and grief often coexist.
Against Breaking is a refuge, a rallying cry, and a reminder. If you’ve ever felt intimidated by poetry, this book will help dissolve that fear. If you already love poetry, it will renew and deepen that love. And if you simply need reassurance that being tender, flawed, and attentive still matters, this book offers that, generously and without pretense.
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on April 7, 2026.
Drawing on her experience as the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States, Limón reflects on poetry as a force for connection, healing, and attention. Her prose is accessible without ever being simplistic; it’s thoughtful, inviting, and deeply humane. This is not a book that tells you what poetry should be, but one that gently opens a door and says: come in, this is for you, too.
One of the most moving threads in the book is her insistence on tenderness, not as weakness, but as courage. Limón writes about worthiness, about paying attention to the natural world, and about the way language can tether us to one another in fractured times. Her You Are Here project, which centers place, environment, and belonging, underscores how poetry can reorient us toward care, for the land, for others, and for ourselves.
What I loved most is how welcoming this book feels. It doesn’t demand prior knowledge or reverence for poetry; instead, it meets the reader exactly where they are. Limón’s writing reminds us that noticing is an ethical act, and that beauty and grief often coexist.
Against Breaking is a refuge, a rallying cry, and a reminder. If you’ve ever felt intimidated by poetry, this book will help dissolve that fear. If you already love poetry, it will renew and deepen that love. And if you simply need reassurance that being tender, flawed, and attentive still matters, this book offers that, generously and without pretense.
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on April 7, 2026.
May 16, 2026
Ada Limón served as the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States from 2022 to 2025. As she states in the foreword, although she did a great many things in her role, including her signature project You Are Here, there are only two obligations: an opening reading at the Library of Congress and a closing lecture or conversation there. Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry is the closing lecture Limón gave on April 17, 2025. And what a speech! Having seen her in person (in conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer in Minneapolis in October 2025), I could hear her voice as I read the words, but what I would have given to have heard her deliver this in person.
Against Breaking touches on, and argues for, so many things I have found to be true about poetry since writing poetry came back into my life after a twenty-five-year absence, and, as Limón says in the foreword, “I was given a fifty-minute time limit, and I knew, despite wanting to say so much about the current state of the world, I wanted to do at least one thing: make a case for poetry.” Make a case she does, with passion, with lyricism and storytelling, with inspiration. I’ve already read it twice, and, like an indispensable book of poetry, Ross Gay’s Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, for a recent example, or the aphorisms of the Tao Te Ching or The Art of Peace, I will return to Against Breaking time and time again when I need to be reminded of, to be regrounded in, the beauty and humanity we so often lose sight of in the world.
Against Breaking touches on, and argues for, so many things I have found to be true about poetry since writing poetry came back into my life after a twenty-five-year absence, and, as Limón says in the foreword, “I was given a fifty-minute time limit, and I knew, despite wanting to say so much about the current state of the world, I wanted to do at least one thing: make a case for poetry.” Make a case she does, with passion, with lyricism and storytelling, with inspiration. I’ve already read it twice, and, like an indispensable book of poetry, Ross Gay’s Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, for a recent example, or the aphorisms of the Tao Te Ching or The Art of Peace, I will return to Against Breaking time and time again when I need to be reminded of, to be regrounded in, the beauty and humanity we so often lose sight of in the world.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
3.75// This short book is a publication of Ada Limón’s closing lecture as U.S. Poet Laureate at the Library of Congress in April 2025. She beautifully articulates the need for poetry in our society. Poetry helps us to slow down, pay attention to what’s around us, express sentiments larger than ourselves, find connection and belonging, discover what it truly means to be human, and also to inspire us to take action. I did really enjoy this quote: “But if you feel the need to trust language again, to remember that language could have power, could hold multiple truths, then you need poetry. If you need to be reminded of what makes us human, tender, brave, flawed, and worthy of love, then you need poetry.” I also got a brief glimpse of what Limón’s work as Poet Laureate entailed in promoting the reading and writing of poetry to the country, as well as the current projects that were touched by poems.
I don’t always love the concept of publishing speeches or lectures and calling them a book. This was very short and could be read easily in one sitting, and I felt like it only scratched the tip of the iceberg. I also felt like it would speak more to poets than to readers of poetry, which made me feel like I was not the exact audience. I think this could have been longer, and I would have loved more insight into Limón’s work as Poet Laureate. This did inspire me to go into her backlog, including her anthology YOU ARE HERE.
Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the ARC.
I don’t always love the concept of publishing speeches or lectures and calling them a book. This was very short and could be read easily in one sitting, and I felt like it only scratched the tip of the iceberg. I also felt like it would speak more to poets than to readers of poetry, which made me feel like I was not the exact audience. I think this could have been longer, and I would have loved more insight into Limón’s work as Poet Laureate. This did inspire me to go into her backlog, including her anthology YOU ARE HERE.
Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
In these dark and muddled times, I frequently find myself turning to the words of my favorite poets for comfort, refuge, and sanctuary. What a gift, then, to receive an advance copy of Ada Límon’s slim volume Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry, due to be published in early April 2026.
Lately, I find my emotions live very close to the surface. It doesn’t take much these days, it seems, to reach my tender heart and bring tears to my eyes. Such was the case as I read Ada Límon’s heartfelt words in this, her closing lecture to the Library of Congress as she ended her term as the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States. What a beautiful case she makes . . . for poetry! Right now. For all of us. As the world we know shifts under our feet, Ada Límon reminds us that poetry can save us with its offer of hope and connection and possibility.
I cannot wait to have a copy of this wonderful volume for my own poetry library. I will read it again and again. And probably cry every time I do.
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for providing me with an advance copy of Ada Límon’s Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published on April 7, 2026.
5 stars
Lately, I find my emotions live very close to the surface. It doesn’t take much these days, it seems, to reach my tender heart and bring tears to my eyes. Such was the case as I read Ada Límon’s heartfelt words in this, her closing lecture to the Library of Congress as she ended her term as the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States. What a beautiful case she makes . . . for poetry! Right now. For all of us. As the world we know shifts under our feet, Ada Límon reminds us that poetry can save us with its offer of hope and connection and possibility.
I cannot wait to have a copy of this wonderful volume for my own poetry library. I will read it again and again. And probably cry every time I do.
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for providing me with an advance copy of Ada Límon’s Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published on April 7, 2026.
5 stars
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry by Ada Limón is a heartfelt reminder that poetry is what makes us human. This book memorializes the closing lecture Limón delivered at the Library of Congress on April 17, 2025, when she completed her tenure as the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States.
In her address, Limón talks about not just her achievements as poet laureate—notably "You Are Here", a public poetry initiative that installed poems in National Parks—but also the lessons she learned during her time criss-crossing the continent. She concludes that poetry is a powerful tool for processing personal experiences, as well as a bridge that connects individuals through the emotion and music of words. Limón draws upon her breadth of poetic knowledge and her own love of the art form to share poems that hold meaning for her, from "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus to "Tired" by Langston Hughes, and calls for subversive poetry in the face of the current political climate and the rise of AI.
Against Breaking is a tiny text that packs powerful inspiration for anyone who loves poetry. My only wish is that there could have been more of it.
Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry by Ada Limón is a heartfelt reminder that poetry is what makes us human. This book memorializes the closing lecture Limón delivered at the Library of Congress on April 17, 2025, when she completed her tenure as the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States.
In her address, Limón talks about not just her achievements as poet laureate—notably "You Are Here", a public poetry initiative that installed poems in National Parks—but also the lessons she learned during her time criss-crossing the continent. She concludes that poetry is a powerful tool for processing personal experiences, as well as a bridge that connects individuals through the emotion and music of words. Limón draws upon her breadth of poetic knowledge and her own love of the art form to share poems that hold meaning for her, from "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus to "Tired" by Langston Hughes, and calls for subversive poetry in the face of the current political climate and the rise of AI.
Against Breaking is a tiny text that packs powerful inspiration for anyone who loves poetry. My only wish is that there could have been more of it.
Read
June 10, 2026"Is any poem ever a failure because it goes unpublished or unshared? No, because didn't it make you pay attention, the act of writing? Didn't you, even briefly, feel as if you inhabited the world? Didn't it, for a moment, make you connected to language? Didn't you find a container for your heart?"
"Poetry responds to things that are too large to be said, when the feeling is too big. Even as I write this in prose, I find myself resisting the sentences. The need for clarity of thought. It's not that I don't want to be clear; it's that I trust the mystery so much more. The images, the way in which each individual story returns to me all at once as I say these words."
"Listen, I am not saying you have to love every poem I love, or love the poetry that I write. But please love something. In fact, that's what poetry--secret or shared--can give us: a chance to write toward what we love, to name it, to sing our sorrow so it does not break us, to bear witness to this moment in time, to become stronger, to retain our minds toward what's good in this world, to what's good in us. Maybe all poems remind us of this? Like a hidden refrain etched in every line, in every stanza, something silently echoing: You have to love."
"Poetry responds to things that are too large to be said, when the feeling is too big. Even as I write this in prose, I find myself resisting the sentences. The need for clarity of thought. It's not that I don't want to be clear; it's that I trust the mystery so much more. The images, the way in which each individual story returns to me all at once as I say these words."
"Listen, I am not saying you have to love every poem I love, or love the poetry that I write. But please love something. In fact, that's what poetry--secret or shared--can give us: a chance to write toward what we love, to name it, to sing our sorrow so it does not break us, to bear witness to this moment in time, to become stronger, to retain our minds toward what's good in this world, to what's good in us. Maybe all poems remind us of this? Like a hidden refrain etched in every line, in every stanza, something silently echoing: You have to love."
April 13, 2026
‘It gives me great joy to know people are writing secret poems’
California poet Ada Limón has become an established artist, her award-winning poems appearing in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Tin House, and the American Poetry Review, among others. Her voice is gentle, her words flow like nature, and her thoughts touch memories and expectations so sensitively that she sits beside us, communicating through her memorable poems.
While this book is not a selection of her poems, it is a gentle discussion with the reader about the power and sensitivity of poetry. ‘If we are lucky enough to live a life in poetry, we are never alone – we are never alone because everyone who has ever written is with us…sometimes we even place our words there, tenderly, eagerly, to remain for others to find.’ In reflecting on the experience of being honored as the Poet Laureate of the United States 1922 – 1925, she offers, ‘I had the great fortune to listen to people tell me what poetry means to them.’ And that is what this brief but impressive volume shares – the special place poetry thrives in our lives.
California poet Ada Limón has become an established artist, her award-winning poems appearing in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Tin House, and the American Poetry Review, among others. Her voice is gentle, her words flow like nature, and her thoughts touch memories and expectations so sensitively that she sits beside us, communicating through her memorable poems.
While this book is not a selection of her poems, it is a gentle discussion with the reader about the power and sensitivity of poetry. ‘If we are lucky enough to live a life in poetry, we are never alone – we are never alone because everyone who has ever written is with us…sometimes we even place our words there, tenderly, eagerly, to remain for others to find.’ In reflecting on the experience of being honored as the Poet Laureate of the United States 1922 – 1925, she offers, ‘I had the great fortune to listen to people tell me what poetry means to them.’ And that is what this brief but impressive volume shares – the special place poetry thrives in our lives.
May 26, 2026
"It is, perhaps, easier to explain what writing and reading a poem can do to a person than it is to explain what a poem actually is. "What is a poem?" This is a dreaded question that's so difficult to answer. As a poet and we immediately say infuriating things like, "What is a soul? What does the color green mean?" This is one of my favorite things about poetry: You can put all the poets in the world together in one room, and instead of one definition of a poem, you'd have many."
The Circus Animals' Desertion by William Butler Yeats
won't you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton
Faint Music by Robert Hass
Sheltered Garden by H. D.
The Testing-Tree by Stanley Kunitz
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver
Door in the Mountain by Jean Valentine
How lucky we are by Gregory Orr
Try to Praise the Mutilated World by Adam Zagajewski translated by Clare Cavanagh
Tired by Langston Hughes
Return by Robert Creeley
The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
Sorrow Is Not My Name by Ross Gay
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking by Emily Dickinson
A House Called Tomorrow by Alberto Rios
The Circus Animals' Desertion by William Butler Yeats
won't you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton
Faint Music by Robert Hass
Sheltered Garden by H. D.
The Testing-Tree by Stanley Kunitz
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver
Door in the Mountain by Jean Valentine
How lucky we are by Gregory Orr
Try to Praise the Mutilated World by Adam Zagajewski translated by Clare Cavanagh
Tired by Langston Hughes
Return by Robert Creeley
The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
Sorrow Is Not My Name by Ross Gay
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking by Emily Dickinson
A House Called Tomorrow by Alberto Rios
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May 9, 2026One night, during a holiday in Vietnam, we met some Aussies and someone proposed we try to guess occupations. The jazz musician studying to be a psychotherapist, guessed I was a writer, maybe a poet? And honestly this might be my favorite thing anyone has ever said to me. Maybe it was just a new technique he was learning in school- well it works!!!
A little later in the evening, after a few more drinks, he whispered, “you don’t even write poems just for yourself sometimes?” And so now I do.
“Didn’t it make you pay attention, the act of writing? Didn’t you, even briefly, feel as if you inhabited the world? Didn’t it, for a moment, make you feel connected to language? Didn’t you find a container for your heart?”
I love Ada’s poems and her anthology and her poet way of being in the world. I’m clearly in a moooood this year to read books that emphasize why we need written art.
A little later in the evening, after a few more drinks, he whispered, “you don’t even write poems just for yourself sometimes?” And so now I do.
“Didn’t it make you pay attention, the act of writing? Didn’t you, even briefly, feel as if you inhabited the world? Didn’t it, for a moment, make you feel connected to language? Didn’t you find a container for your heart?”
I love Ada’s poems and her anthology and her poet way of being in the world. I’m clearly in a moooood this year to read books that emphasize why we need written art.
May 26, 2026
This book is a polished transcript of Limon's lecture given at the Library of Congress at the close of her Poet Laureate tenure. For me it is a read, re-read, and repeat. The subtitle, On the Power of Poetry, is Limon's focus--poetry saves lives, creates community, forces us to pay attention. In 50-some pages (the lecture is approximately an hour and is available on YouTube), she gives grace to those who do not like poetry, and if they read this book or listen to the speech, they may change their minds. The book is prose but Limon includes well known poems and lines of poetry to make her points. Poetry is intimate yet expansive, personal yet universal, and this book is full of phrases to quote.
April 10, 2026
The author gave a speech in 2025, at the end of her time as the U.S. poet laureate, and this short book is that speech. She explains that the power of poetry is its ability to connect to people’s lives, to address their feelings. “Poetry responds to things that are too large to be said, when the feeling is too big.” She applauds people who told her they write poetry, even if it’s just for themselves. I particularly enjoyed her discussion of the need to live a small life, not just seek a big life. Those who enjoy her poetry, or even the poetry of any poet, would appreciate reading her thoughts about why poetry is a part of their lives.
May 10, 2026
"I’ve argued for most of my life that poetry is powerful in part because it exists in the questions and holds no answers. It’s the opposite of a polemic, or a prescription; instead, it’s an interrogation of the world and one’s place within it. That said, even though it doesn’t hold answers, perhaps it is an answer."
"We need a secular sacred language, something that is galvanizing without certainty, that gathers us without gathering under one ruler—but under the connection that we all have to the human spirit, to each other, to the earth."
-Ada Limón
My loved ones will be receiving copies of this book, itself a gift. And an invitation.
"We need a secular sacred language, something that is galvanizing without certainty, that gathers us without gathering under one ruler—but under the connection that we all have to the human spirit, to each other, to the earth."
-Ada Limón
My loved ones will be receiving copies of this book, itself a gift. And an invitation.
May 24, 2026
The Writing is gorgeous in the short, one hour recording beautifully read by the author. Loved, loved, loved it! She speaks on how poetry connects us to one another, the natural world, and the lives that came before us. From the publisher: “Fans of Robin Wall Kimmerer, Matthew Zapruder, or Jesmyn Ward will find a kindred spirit in Against Breaking—which offers a refuge, a reminder of the resilience and beauty found within us and all around us. As Limón writes with heartfelt clarity, “If you need to remember what makes us human, tender, brave, flawed, and worthy of love, you need poetry.” Don’t recall how I learned about this book, but of course I’m familiar with Ada Limon.
May 28, 2026
This is probably the perfect talk to end Limon's three years as poet laureate. It explains to people who probably don't think a lot about poetry why they find it pleasurable when they turn to it. She makes a strong statement about the role poetry plays in helping, even forcing us to pay attention to the things of this world. Yes, it's a kind of pep talk for poetry, which is what the role of poet laureate asks of her.
Now, since I love Limon's poetry, I hope there will be a larger critical statement at some point, even an autobiographical book somewhere down the line. But that would be an unfair expectation for this lecture, which does a good job for the moment that was asked of it.
Now, since I love Limon's poetry, I hope there will be a larger critical statement at some point, even an autobiographical book somewhere down the line. But that would be an unfair expectation for this lecture, which does a good job for the moment that was asked of it.
May 25, 2026
I picked up Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry by Ada Limon while visiting the library during National Poetry Month and fell in love. It was the perfect cozy meditation on poetry that I needed. As the author beautifully writes, “When you want to create a safe space to stand in, to breathe in, to gather courage, to find hope again, to find your strength again, you can stand in poetry.” She reminds us that “if you need to be reminded of what makes us human, tender, brave, flawed, and worthy of love, then you need poetry.”
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