The Carrying

“Ada Limón’s new collection is her best yet, a much needed shot of if not hope, then perseverance amidst much uncertainty.”—NPR

From National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Ada Limón comes The Carrying—her most powerful collection yet. Vulnerable, tender, acute, these are serious and brave poems, exploring with honesty the ambiguous moment between the rapture of youth and the grace of acceptance. A daughter tends to aging parents. A woman struggles with infertility—“What if, instead of carrying / a child, I am supposed to carry grief?”—and a body seized by pain and vertigo as well as ecstasy. A nation convulses: “Every song of this country / has an unsung third stanza, something brutal.” And still Limón shows us, as ever, the persistence of hunger, love, and joy, the dizzying fullness of our too-short lives. “Fine then, / I’ll take it,” she writes. “I’ll take it all.”

PRAISE FOR THE CARRYING

“Exquisite poems about love, fertility, desire, this natural world we move through, the political climate, so much more.”—Roxane Gay, Goodreads

“Don’t miss this life-affirming collection.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Gorgeous, thought-provoking ... This fearless collections shows a poet that can appreciate life’s surprises.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Ada Limón is one of the country’s finest poets.”—Shelf Awareness

“The Carrying is one of Ada Limón’s best. Even in poems about racism, misogyny, violence, and the darkness that often accompanies life, Limón’s resiliency shines through.”—Bitch Media

“The Carrying is dazzling, precise, transformative and deeply humane. Ada Limón is an American treasure.”—Jami Attenberg

“In these poems, joy and longing and grief sing with a music that—regardless of what I am burdened or blessed to carry—makes me want to live passionately and fully in the difficult world. The Carrying is a gift.”—Natasha Trethewey