PDXAP Book Club - Heart First Into This Ruin

Note date change to one week later - 9/11.

For our September 2026 contemporary poetry book club selection, let's read for discussion Heart First Into This Ruin: The Complete American Sonnets, by Wanda Coleman. Selected out of mention in a previous Book Club selection, the publisher notes this is the first discrete collection of Coleman's 100 sonnets, drawn from her larger body of work. From a review of the book: "Oftentimes, while reading these sonnets, it feels like Coleman is trying to hack her way out of the box of form. It’s a thrilling escape attempt, and her pushing at the bounds often yields brilliant feats of lineation, or punctuation, or just plain what my father would call “Fuck-it-ness,” or in other words, “I’m Going to Do What I Want To Do.” We can see this straining in “American Sonnet 12” in the opening line: “my earliest dreams linger/wronged spirits // who will not rest / dusky crows astride.”

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Publisher link to acquire: https://godine.com/products/heart-first-into-this-ruin

Available to lend through the Multnomah County Library:
https://multcolib.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S152C1951944

As it's recently published, readily available to order through your local bookstore.

And of course, available through Amazon, by search of title.

Feel free to message me with any questions. Note that stable video presence is required. And please be on time. Look forward to seeing all.