100 Horror Poetry Collections From the Past Decade

I love horror poetry. I really love it. I don't think I read a great deal of poetry before discovering the glorious sub-section of horror that explores a vast and heart-wrenching poetical landscape. I Am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland is what really jumpstarted my interest in dark poetry. Once I read that, I wanted more. And in looking I found a treasure trove of horror poetry. Experiencing these collections has encouraged me to write more poetry, submit more poetry, and revisit old favorites like Emily Dickinson with a new lens.

Since I've spent a great deal of time scouring the internet for more horror poetry to inject directly into my soul, I thought it might be fun to compile a comprehensive list for others looking to bring more dark poetry into their lives. So, here are one hundred horror (or horror adjacent) poetry collections published between 2013 and 2023. That should keep us busy for a while, right?

Some of these books I've read and loved personally. Others, I've heard absolutely fantastic things about and a few are some are new-to-me books I can't wait to check out.

2023

Bad Omens by Jessica Drake-Thomas (Querencia Press)

Dead Ends by Amanda M. Blake (Independent)

In Memory of Exoskeletons by Rebecca Cuthbert (Alien Buddha Press)

Numinous Stones by Holly Lyn Walrath (Aqueduct Press)

Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair by Marisca Pichette (Android Press)

The Chimera and Other Dark Poems by Michael Perret (Curious Corvid Publishing)

The Ecstasy of Agony by Wrath James White (CLASH Books)

The Lies We Weave by Grace R. Reynolds (Curious Corvid Publishing)

Under Her Eye edited by Lindy Ryan & Lee Murray (Black Spot Books)

2022

Crime Scene by Cynthia Pelayo (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Elegies of Rotting Stars by Tiffany Morris (Nictitating Books)

Every Poem a Potion, Every Song a Spell by Stephanie Parent (Querencia Press)

Girls From the County by Donna Lynch (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Moonglade by David Edgar Grinnell ( Curious Corvid Publishing)

Sifting the Ashes by Michael Bailey & Marge Simon (Crystal Lake Publishing)

The Cry of the Ravven by Ravven White (Curious Corvid Publishing)

The Gravity of Existence by Christina Sng (Interstellar Press)

The Rat King by Sumiko Saulson (Dooky Zines)

The Saint of Witches by Avra Margariti (Weasel Press)

The Sorrow Festival by Erin Slaughter (CLASH Books)

Under Her Skin edited by Lindy Ryan & Toni Miller (Black Spot Books)

We Are the Ones Possessed by Adrian Ernesto Cepeda (CLASH Books)

2021

Apache Witch and Other Poetic Observations by Joe R. Lansdale (Independent Legions)

Exposed Nerves by Lucy A. Snyder (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Lady Of The House by Grace R. Reynolds ( Curious Corvid Publishing)

Monstrum Poetica by Jezzy Wolfe (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Strange Nests by Jessica McHugh (Apokrupha)

The Smallest of Bones by Holly Lyn Walrath (CLASH Books)

Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. by Christine Sng, Angela Yuriko Smith, Lee Murray, & Geneve Flynn (Yuriko Publishing LLC)

Victims by Marge Simon & Mary Turzillo (Weasel Press)

2020

25 Trumbulls Road by Christopher Locke (Black Lawrence Press)

100 Poems by Till Lindemann (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

A Collection of Dreamscapes by Christina Sng (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

A Complex Accident of Life by Jessica McHugh (Apokrupha)

Altars and Oubliettes by Angela Yuriko Smith (Independent)

Broken Nails by Susan Snyder (Madness Heart Press)

Burials by Jessica Drake-Thomas (CLASH Books)

Bloodhound by Marie Casey (Independent)

Cradleland of Parasites by Sara Tantlinger (Strangehouse Books)

Hotel Almighty by Sarah J. Sloat (Sarabande Books)

Index of Haunted Houses by Adam O. Davis (Sarabande Books)

Into the Forest and all the Way Through by Cynthia Pelayo (Burial Day Books)

Meaningless Cycles in a Vicious Glass Prison: Songs of Death and Love by Anton Cancre (Dragon's Roost Press)

Medusa by Natalie Sierra (DSTL Arts Publishing)

Past the Glad and Sunlit Season: Poems for Halloween by K. A. Opperman (Jackanapes Press)

The Impossible Weight of Life by Michael Bailey (Written Backwards)

The Withering by Ashley Dioses (Jackanapes Press)

Underworld Lit by Srikanth Reddy (Wave Books)

Whitechapel Rhapsody by Alessandro Manzetti (Independent Legions)

2019

Choking Back the Devil by Donna Lynch (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

The Demeter Diaries by Marge Simon & Bryan D. Dietrich (Independent Legions)

Dragonfly and Other Songs of Mourning by Michelle Scalise (Lvp Publications)

Mary Shelley Makes a Monster written by Octavia Cade & illustrated by Crista Kempton (Aqueduct Press)

Poems from the Attic by Morgan Nikola-Wren (Luminarium Press)

The Apocalyptic Mannequin by Stephanie M. Wytovich (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

The Place of Broken Things by Linda D. Addison & Alessandro Manzetti (Crystal Lake Publishing)

2018

Artifacts by Bruce Boston (Independent Legions)

Bleeding Saffron by David E. Cowen (Weasel Press)

I Am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland (GlassPoet Press)

If You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your Corpse by Wrath James White (CLASH Books)

The Devil's Dreamland: Poetry Inspired by H.H. Holmes by Sara Tantlinger (Strangehouse Books)

There's a Witch in the Word Machine by Jenni Fagan (Polygon)

Undead edited by Bianca Lynne Spriggs & Katerina Stoykova-Klemer (Apex Book Company)

War by Marge Simon & Alessandro Manzetti (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Witches written by Donna Lynch & illustrated by Steven Archer (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

2017

A Collection of Nightmares by Christina Sng (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Breathe. Breathe. by Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi (Unnerving)

Love For Slaughter by Sara Tantlinger (Strangehouse Books)

No Mercy by Alessandro Manzetti (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Satan's Sweethearts by Marge Simon & Mary Turzillo (Weasel Press)

Sheet Music to My Acoustic Nightmare by Stephanie M. Wytovich (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Visions of the Mutant Rain Forest by Bruce Boston and Robert Frazier (Crystal Lake Publishing)

2016

Brothel by Stephanie M. Wytovich (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Field Guide to the End of the World by Jeannine Hall Gailey (Moon City Press)

Poems of My Night by Cynthia Pelayo (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Sacrificial Nights by Bruce Boston & Alessandro Manzetti (Kipple Officina Larbraria)

Small Spirits by Marge Simon (Midnight Town Media)

Underwater Fistfight by Matt Betts (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

2015

An Exorcism of Angels by Stephanie M. Wytovich (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Dark Energies by Ann K. Schwader (P'Rea Press)

Eden Underground by Alessandro Manzetti (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Naughty Ladies written by Marge Simon & illustrated by Sandy DeLuca (Eldritch Press)

On Quiet Nights by Till Lindemann (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Resonance Dark and Light by Bruce Boston (Eldritch Press)

The Underside of the Rainbow by B.E. Burkhead (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

2014

Embrace the Hideous Immaculate by Chad Hensley (2014)

Fearworms: Selected Poems written & illustrated by Robert Payne Cabeen (Fanboy Comics)

Forgiving Judas by Tom Piccirilli (Crossroad Press)

Mourning Jewelry by Stephanie M. Wytovich (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Sweet Poison by Marge Simon & Mary Turzillo (Dark Renaissance Books)

Venus Intervention by Corrine De Winter & Alessandro Manzetti (Kipple Officina Libraria)

2013

Dangerous Dreams by Marge Simon & Sandy DeLuca (Elektrik Milk Bath Press)

Dark Duet by Linda D. Addison & Stephen M. Wilson (Crossroad Press)

Four Elements by Marge Simon, Rain Graves, Charlee Jacob, & Linda Addison (Bad Moon Books)

Hysteria by Stephanie M. Wytovich (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Kicking Against the Pricks by Stephen M. Wilson (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Letting Out the Demons and Other Poems by Terrie Leigh Relf (Elektrik Milk Bath Press)

Luminous Worlds by David C. Kopaska-Merkel (Dark Regions Press)

Scenes Along the Zombie Highway by G.O. Clark (Dark Regions Press)

The Sex Lives of Monsters by Helen Marshall (Kelp Queen Press)

Is one of your favorites missing from the list? Add it in the comments!

[Disclosure: I have poems in Under Her Skin and Under Her Eye from Black Spot Books]

[Image Credit: photo by Nothing Ahead via Pexels]