Whether or not reading is a part of your self-care routine, experiencing poetry can be a great way to care for yourself. In bite-sized poems, modern-day poets are tacking topics that can help you to release emotions, think creatively, and learn a little more about yourself. These selections are all focused on topics that surround self-love and healing, and are a great edition to your bookshelf or coffee table for whenever you need to slow down for a moment and focus on you.
“it was when I stopped searching for home within others and lifted the foundations of home within myself I found there were no roots more intimate than those between a mind and body that have decided to be whole.”
Written by Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey is divided into four chapters that each focus on a different type of emotional pain and healing. As you read through "the hurting", "the loving", "the breaking", and "the healing", you'll find a focus on appreciating the little incredible moments and beauty in life.
"You are allowed to take up space. Own who you are and what you want for yourself. Stop downplaying the things you care about, the hopes you have. Own your passions, your thoughts, your perceptions. Own your fire. Stop putting your worth in the hands of others; stop letting them decide your value. Own saying no, saying yes. Own your mood, your feelings. Own your plans, your path, your success."
This powerful book of poetry really focuses on healing, and goes back to the belief that you can use the hurt to help discover yourself even more, or rebuild yourself in a way that is going to serve you in the future. Bianca Sparacino's words are understanding, encouraging, and comforting, all at once.
Remember, there are beginnings in endings, through destruction there comes life.
In another book of poetry that is centered around healing and recovering from trauma to be whole again, Nikita Gill focuses on topics like love, loss, grief, and heartbreak to help guide your through the journey of healing, release emotions, and bring you back to self-love.
a lioness
who is no longer
afraid to let the world
hear her
roar
-an ode to me
maybe you were the love of your life all along
maybe you were always happy
and just thought you needed the reassurance of someone safe
to let yourself feel it
"Don’t wait on anyone to tell you what you are worth. You have to be the first person who knows what you are worth and can say what you are worth."
Cleo Wade has a popular Instagram account where she features her words, and this book is truly an extension of this. If you're needing a dash of positivity and encouragement in your life, this is one book of poetry to pick up. It's filled with poems, mantras, and affirmations, all of which are designed to empower and support you.
"Watch me build an empire from the ashes of everything that tried to destroy me"
Covering topics like body acceptance, sexuality, survival, and self-love, these poems truly read like a love letter to girls and women.
"the hardest days are when you have to put on a mask of happiness for the sake of those around you, but you realize by keeping them safe from worry you are only isolating yourself from their helping hands"
The second of Edgar Holme's books of poetry written for his wife, For When She's Feeling Blue is filled with poems of hope, love, and inspiration, and is designed to be read when you're feeling down.
"They will try to label you one thing. As if people can be categorized so easily. They fail to see their systems flaw. You are not one thing. You are many things. So full of personality and potential. Bravery and intelligence. Capability and love. Take the labels they have so generously given you and shove them down the garbage chute. Show them. Show them they were wrong. - 2:01 am"
Designed as a celebration of sorts of all those deep thoughts we have in the early hours of the morning, 2am Thoughts shows a gamut of emotions when you need all the feels.
Please Don’t Go Before I Get Better
"Tonight I'm thinking about the beauty of embracing life's chaos with knowing that we can't choose a lot of things, but we can choose to be good people. we can choose to love without ulterior motives, and to be stronger than our emotions makes us feel, and to always keep spinning forward. it's all okay, it always will be."
In this book of poems, Madisen Kuhn covers the growing pains associated with growing up and coming of age, with a focus on self-image, self-discovery, and self-reflection.
"She conquered her demons and wore her scars like wings."
A popular Instagram poet, Atticus has a way of capturing the beauty of woman and divides the book into three sections "Love", "Her", and "Wild". The accompanying drawings are gorgeous and add even more beauty to the book. 
"you are not
your insecurities you are the strength of the mountains and the wisdom of the rivers you are everything
-yourself"
Divided into four chapters "For The Healing", "For the Loving", "For the Oppressed", and "For the Broken", this book is filled with beautiful encouragement and thoughts about loving yourself and others.
that’s where you are."
"Your healing lifts up the ocean of existence. When you heal we all heal."
Yung Pueblo is a celebrated poet, and this book focuses on topics like self-love, healing, knowing yourself, hope, and focusing on what's important.
"You can't root yourself
In the ground, hoping the world
Will grow around you.
You were made to do
More than hide in the shadows
Of another's leaves"
Along with beautiful pieces of art, this book of poetry is designed to help you feel a little less alone when going through experiences like mental illness, self-harm, abuse, and trauma.
A Beautiful Composition of Broken
"falling apart doesn't make you weak
a strong heart is capable of breaking"
r.h. sin's work carries a message of self-love, and is relatable in its discussion about mental health issues.