The Worst Poetry Book Ever

This book will leave you in silence. Whether it be from tears of laughter or from a single recurring thought: "WTF did I just read?", The Worst Poetry Book Ever, is quite literally the worst poetry book ever. I hope you like it! Or hate it!

Comedian Gabbie Hanna brings levity to the twists and turns of modern adulthood in this exhilarating debut collection of illustrated poetry. In poems ranging from the singsong rhythms of children’s verses to a sophisticated confessional style, Gabbie explores what it means to feel like a kid and an adult all at once, revealing her own longings, obsessions, and insecurities along the way. Adultolescence announces the arrival of a brilliant new voice with a magical ability to connect through alienation, cut to the profound with internet slang, and detonate wickedly funny jokes between moments of existential dread. You’ll turn to the last page because you get her, and you’ll return to the first because she gets you.

'You Matter' is a gentle reminder. A book of poems on discovering and embracing the inner beauty that exists within us. It is a letter to a weary heart, searching for hope in the uncertain. An assurance that better days are ahead.

Writing very bad poetry requires talent. It helps to have a wooden ear for words, a penchant for sinking into a mire of sentimentality, and an enviable confidence that allows one to write despite absolutely appalling incompetence. The 131 poems collected in this first-of-its-kind anthology are so glaringly awful that they embody a kind of genius. From Fred Emerson Brooks' "The Stuttering Lover" to Matthew Green's "The Spleen" to Georgia Bailey Parrington's misguided "An Elegy to a Dissected Puppy", they mangle meter, run rampant over rhyme, and bludgeon us into insensibility with their grandiosity, anticlimax, and malapropism. Guaranteed to move even the most stoic reader to tears (of laughter), Very Bad Poetry is sure to become a favorite of the poetically inclined (and disinclined).

Furry rivals Cat and Pug have a rhyme-riddled showdown in this hilarious and delightfully quirky picture book about the joys of writing poetry—playfully imagined by the creator of social media sensation Inkpug! There once was a Pug and a Cat Who engaged in a poetic spat… Cat and Pug are each determined to become the World’s Best Poet, no matter what it takes. Whether they’re writing sonnets to sundaes or typing ballads with their butts, they will stop at nothing to outwit, out-write, and out-verse each other. But perhaps there is an even greater prize to be had: Can these two rivals discover the wonderful joy of writing…together?

Don’t take the title as a metaphor: it really is the worst book ever. Governor General Literary Award winning children’s book author and illustrator Elise Gravel takes readers on an unexpected journey through the world’s most boring book. The story’s characters and omniscient readers alike quickly become annoyed by the author’s bland imagination and rebel against her tired tropes and stale character choices, spouting sass in an attempt to get her attention and steer the narrative in a more interesting direction. After all, you don’t even have to buy the book, but the characters? They’re stuck in there for an eternity, and they’re going to do their best to make the most of it, or at least have a little fun where they can. As the charming and bizarre true nature of the characters overpowers the dry attributes given to them by the author, this once blasé story quickly picks up speed, transforming the story into something much more unique than originally promised. With Gravel’s signature goofy characters behind the wheel, no silly twist or rude body function is off the table!

We all need a bit of poetry in our lives to inspire and to elevate. But what happens when poetry goes wrong, and how bad can it get? Stephen Robins has scoured the anthologies of the world to amass the most astonishing examples of really awful verse. Each featured poet is introduced with a light-hearted discussion of his or her life, exploring published works, fame, and reputation. The result is a treasure trove of poetic disasters that should hold the attention of even the most jaded reader.

"The novelist and poet Ben Lerner argues that our hatred of poetry is ultimately a sign of its nagging relevance"--

“Never before has the delight and wonder experienced in young love, in which is implicit physical discovery, been conveyed with such touching honesty or with rhapsody so involving unconscious pathos. Those who seek to drag any honest writing through the gutters of their own minds will do the same with this. Those who are not afraid of the strange miracle of life will understand this brave verse.” —William Rose Benét

A hysterical collection of bad poetry. It includes such work as: "Tea For Two" ("A Tragedy"); "Nietzsche And The Ice-Cream Truck"; "Capitalism Can Fall Not Like I Fell For You"; "Inappropriately Touched By An Angel"; and, "Love Is Like A Toilet Bowl."