America, A Love Story

By Camille T. Dungy
Wesleyan University Press, March 17, 2026

America, A Love Story is Camille T. Dungy’s powerful testament to living and loving as a Black woman and mother in today’s America, and her first book of poetry in almost a decade. Piercingly honest and deeply compassionate, this poetry moves through the mounting griefs of contemporary American life with unwavering clarity. The book is part indictment, part celebration—full of gratitude, fear, resistance, and hope. Dungy explores intimacy, parenting, racism, history, and the natural world with clarity and depth. Some poems reflect on the past; others respond to the work of contemporary Black artists. Many are formally playful, including a series of 700-character poems inspired by the 700 hours of sleep a mother loses in her child’s first year. Gorgeous, bright, and bold, these poems speak from the edges—between mother and child, body and earth, self and country. They hold tension and tenderness in equal measure, creating a space for love amidst uncertainty.

Praise for the America, A Love Story
“These new poems by Camille Dungy had me floored.”
-Ada Limón, author of Startlement

“Dungy asks us what world we live and survive within and what it means to nurture and grow in the midst of so much despair.”
–Leila Mottley, Good Morning America/ABC News

“…a terrifying glimpse into the problem of living in the United States: everything’s real and everything’s a metaphor. And when you’re in that spot, the house can only catch on fire.”
–Mark Scarbrough, Lyric Life