It's Not You, It's Me: The Poetry of Breakup

Award-winning poet Jerry Williams is an expert in breaking up, and he credits his survival to the careful words of poets who have loved and lost before him.

It's Not You, It's Me is a poetry anthology--at once amusing, angry, sweet, and bitter--that gives a fresh voice to the all-too-familiar experience of ending a relationship. Williams compiled over 90 poems by contemporary writers including Denis Johnson and Kim Addonizio, as well as former poets laureate Robert Hass, Maxine Kumin, and Mark Strand, whose comforting and healing words dragged him out of his breakup-induced depression.

We have all been through a breakup, but these poems have created an art out of heartbreak: sharing their wisdom on the pain of the flip side of romance, and poking fun at the mess we become at the mercy of love.