National Book Critics Circle Award Poetry Winners and Finalists 1980-99

1.
Ordinary Words
Ordinary Words 3.97 avg rating — 124 ratings
2.
Diva
Diva 3.60 avg rating — 40 ratings
3.
HIV, Mon Amour
HIV, Mon Amour
by: Tory Dent
4.19 avg rating — 80 ratings
4.
On the Bus With Rosa Parks
On the Bus With Rosa Parks
by: Rita Dove
3.97 avg rating — 496 ratings
5.
Dailies and Rushes: Poems
Dailies and Rushes: Poems 3.68 avg rating — 41 ratings
6.
The Bird Catcher
The Bird Catcher 3.92 avg rating — 76 ratings
7.
Self-Evidence: A Selection of Verse, 1977-1997
Self-Evidence: A Selection of Verse, 1977-1997 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
8.
Last Chance for the Tarzan Holler: Poems
Last Chance for the Tarzan Holler: Poems 4.11 avg rating — 44 ratings
9.
Autobiography of Red
Autobiography of Red 4.26 avg rating — 34,590 ratings
10.
Thieves of Paradise (Wesleyan Poetry Series)
Thieves of Paradise (Wesleyan Poetry Series) 3.99 avg rating — 155 ratings
11.
Black Zodiac
Black Zodiac 4.01 avg rating — 927 ratings
12.
Desire: Poems
Desire: Poems 4.04 avg rating — 480 ratings
13.
Loose Sugar
Loose Sugar 4.15 avg rating — 241 ratings
14.
Questions for Ecclesiastes: Poems
Questions for Ecclesiastes: Poems 4.10 avg rating — 105 ratings
15.
Does Your House Have Lions ?
Does Your House Have Lions ? 4.12 avg rating — 430 ratings
16.
Sun under Wood
Sun under Wood 4.11 avg rating — 997 ratings
17.
Loosestrife
Loosestrife 4.15 avg rating — 162 ratings
18.
Imagine the Angels of Bread
Imagine the Angels of Bread 4.41 avg rating — 274 ratings
19.
Music Minus One
Music Minus One 3.93 avg rating — 30 ratings
20.
The Vigil
The Vigil 3.98 avg rating — 58 ratings
21.
Time & Money
Time & Money 4.22 avg rating — 76 ratings
22.
The Only World: Poems
The Only World: Poems 4.48 avg rating — 65 ratings
23.
A Scattering of Salts
A Scattering of Salts 3.90 avg rating — 96 ratings
24.
Cortège
Cortège 4.25 avg rating — 77 ratings
25.
Kyrie: Poems
Kyrie: Poems 4.09 avg rating — 349 ratings
26.
Rider: The Rider Quintet, vol. 1 (Wesleyan Poetry Series)
Rider: The Rider Quintet, vol. 1 (Wesleyan Poetry Series) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 6 ratings
27.
What We Carry
What We Carry 4.28 avg rating — 1,052 ratings
28.
Winter Numbers: Poems
Winter Numbers: Poems 3.99 avg rating — 119 ratings
29.
The Simple Truth
The Simple Truth 4.18 avg rating — 795 ratings
30.
Sunday Skaters
Sunday Skaters 4.26 avg rating — 19 ratings
31.
My Alexandria
My Alexandria
by: Mark Doty
4.28 avg rating — 1,156 ratings
32.
The Museum Of Clear Ideas
The Museum Of Clear Ideas 3.67 avg rating — 85 ratings
33.
The Book of Medicines
The Book of Medicines 4.11 avg rating — 209 ratings
34.
The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance: Poems, 1987-1992
The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance: Poems, 1987-1992 4.24 avg rating — 437 ratings
35.
Sesame
Sesame 3.75 avg rating — 4 ratings
36.
Collected Shorter Poems, 1946-1991
Collected Shorter Poems, 1946-1991 4.30 avg rating — 84 ratings
37.
Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse
Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse
by: Unknown
3.74 avg rating — 836 ratings
38.
Looking for Luck: Poems
Looking for Luck: Poems 3.70 avg rating — 47 ratings
39.
The Father: Poems
The Father: Poems 4.21 avg rating — 1,222 ratings
40.
A Dream of Mind
A Dream of Mind 3.69 avg rating — 61 ratings
41.
Heaven and Earth: A Cosmology
Heaven and Earth: A Cosmology 4.08 avg rating — 77 ratings
42.
Jaguar of Sweet Laughter: New and Selected Poems
Jaguar of Sweet Laughter: New and Selected Poems 3.81 avg rating — 133 ratings
43.
The Ether Dome and Other Poems: New and Selected (1979-1991)
The Ether Dome and Other Poems: New and Selected (1979-1991) 4.12 avg rating — 24 ratings
44.
What Work Is: Poems
What Work Is: Poems 4.28 avg rating — 2,454 ratings
45.
An Atlas of the Difficult World
An Atlas of the Difficult World 4.16 avg rating — 1,308 ratings
46.
Bitter Angel
Bitter Angel 4.02 avg rating — 106 ratings
47.
In the Western Night: Collected Poems, 1965-1990
In the Western Night: Collected Poems, 1965-1990 4.22 avg rating — 346 ratings
48.
New Poems: 1980-88
New Poems: 1980-88 4.38 avg rating — 8 ratings
49.
The Transparent Man: poems
The Transparent Man: poems 3.80 avg rating — 25 ratings
50.
The Book of Gods and Devils
The Book of Gods and Devils 4.06 avg rating — 335 ratings
51.
Transparent Gestures: Poems
Transparent Gestures: Poems 4.20 avg rating — 50 ratings
52.
Earthquake Weather
Earthquake Weather 4.29 avg rating — 7 ratings
53.
Human Wishes (American Poetry Series)
Human Wishes (American Poetry Series) 4.26 avg rating — 1,004 ratings
54.
Pyramid of Bone (Callaloo Poetry Series, 8)
Pyramid of Bone (Callaloo Poetry Series, 8) 4.38 avg rating — 8 ratings
55.
Water Walker
Water Walker 4.10 avg rating — 10 ratings
56.
The One Day
The One Day 3.81 avg rating — 72 ratings
57.
New And Collected Poems: A Pulitzer Prize Winner (Harvest Book)
New And Collected Poems: A Pulitzer Prize Winner (Harvest Book) 4.23 avg rating — 271 ratings
58.
Harp Lake
Harp Lake 2.67 avg rating — 3 ratings
59.
One Thousand Avant-Garde Plays
One Thousand Avant-Garde Plays 4.09 avg rating — 45 ratings
60.
Selected Poems: 1938-1988
Selected Poems: 1938-1988 4.26 avg rating — 39 ratings
61.
Flesh and Blood
Flesh and Blood 4.03 avg rating — 120 ratings
62.
April Galleons
April Galleons 3.98 avg rating — 157 ratings
63.
Happy Hour
Happy Hour really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 11 ratings
64.
In Other Words
In Other Words 4.10 avg rating — 30 ratings
65.
The Sunset Maker: Poems, Stories, a Memoir
The Sunset Maker: Poems, Stories, a Memoir 3.82 avg rating — 17 ratings
66.
Wild Gratitude
Wild Gratitude 4.09 avg rating — 155 ratings
67.
All of Us Here
All of Us Here liked it 3.00 avg rating — 5 ratings
68.
Cats of the Temple (Create a Look Series / Susi Rogol)
Cats of the Temple (Create a Look Series / Susi Rogol) 3.77 avg rating — 13 ratings
69.
Sapphics Against Anger and Other Poems
Sapphics Against Anger and Other Poems 4.40 avg rating — 15 ratings
70.
The Key to the City
The Key to the City 3.50 avg rating — 12 ratings
71.
The Triumph of Achilles
The Triumph of Achilles 3.92 avg rating — 827 ratings
72.
What the Light Was Like
What the Light Was Like 3.73 avg rating — 52 ratings
73.
The Lamplit Answer
The Lamplit Answer 4.19 avg rating — 42 ratings
74.
The Past
The Past 3.87 avg rating — 90 ratings
75.
Late Settings
Late Settings 4.29 avg rating — 17 ratings
76.
The Dead and the Living
The Dead and the Living 4.16 avg rating — 3,910 ratings
77.
Ground Work: Before the War
Ground Work: Before the War 4.64 avg rating — 14 ratings
78.
The Other Side of the River
The Other Side of the River 4.23 avg rating — 47 ratings
79.
Overnight in the Guest House of the Mystic
Overnight in the Guest House of the Mystic 3.92 avg rating — 13 ratings
80.
A Wave
A Wave 4.07 avg rating — 282 ratings
81.
The Changing Light at Sandover
The Changing Light at Sandover 4.25 avg rating — 509 ratings
82.
Erosion
Erosion 4.19 avg rating — 350 ratings
83.
The Kingfisher (Knopf Poetry Series)
The Kingfisher (Knopf Poetry Series) 4.23 avg rating — 93 ratings
84.
Picture Bride (Yale Series of Younger Poets)
Picture Bride (Yale Series of Younger Poets) 3.92 avg rating — 120 ratings
85.
Tar
Tar 4.18 avg rating — 102 ratings
86.
Antarctic Traveller
Antarctic Traveller 4.04 avg rating — 47 ratings
87.
Monolithos: Poems, 1962 and 1982
Monolithos: Poems, 1962 and 1982 4.29 avg rating — 276 ratings
88.
Hundreds of Fireflies (Knopf Poetry Series)
Hundreds of Fireflies (Knopf Poetry Series) 4.07 avg rating — 14 ratings
89.
Visiting Rites (Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets, 122)
Visiting Rites (Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets, 122) 4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings
90.
Finding the Islands
Finding the Islands 3.99 avg rating — 72 ratings
91.
A Coast of Trees
A Coast of Trees 3.93 avg rating — 117 ratings
92.
The Revisionist
The Revisionist 4.63 avg rating — 35 ratings
93.
Brotherly Love
Brotherly Love 3.25 avg rating — 4 ratings
94.
What Manner of Beast
What Manner of Beast really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings
95.
For the Sleepwalkers (Carnegie Mellon Classic Contemporary Series: Poetry)
For the Sleepwalkers (Carnegie Mellon Classic Contemporary Series: Poetry) 4.25 avg rating — 48 ratings
96.
Sunrise
Sunrise 4.09 avg rating — 33 ratings
97.
A Part of Speech
A Part of Speech 4.44 avg rating — 650 ratings
98.
Being Here: Poetry 1977-1980
Being Here: Poetry 1977-1980 4.17 avg rating — 30 ratings
99.
The Morning of the Poem
The Morning of the Poem 4.33 avg rating — 246 ratings
100.
Scripts for the Pageant
Scripts for the Pageant 4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings