At first glance, the fifteen poems in this slim, bilingual volume seem reticent, too spare. But each poem keeps unfolding, quietly revealing intensity, beauty and depth. These ice-crusted gems take hold of the reader and shine, reflecting back through nature (and the rugged coastline of Sweden) with searing clarity what passes in the world.

Drawn from Korean folklore, fairy tales, and family stories, these dynamic poems bristle with migratory experiences. Kim’s original soundscapes, personifications, and elemental images — from apples to wind, birds to fields — create narratives that “…diagram the journey / of our mute longing.” A collection to relish for its portrayal of selfhood interrogating home, as well as the dangers and pleasures of taking “the wild with the good.”

Darkness Spoken is probably the most complete English edition of poetry by Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973): it contains her two collections — Borrowed Time (1953) and Invocation of the Great Bear (1956) — as well as 129 poems from her archives. Between utterance and breath is an audible thought. Bachmann’s work renews its lyricism in Peter Filkins’ translation, carefully studied and annotated. “Without the sun, even art puts on a veil again” — Bachmann’s hymn “To the Sun” is, among numerous anthologies of world literature, included by Mark Strand in The 100 Greatest Poems of the Twentieth Century (W.W. Norton, 2005).

Gaspar’s third collection, which won the 1999 Brittingham Prize, includes “Last Hymn to Night,” “The Lemons,” and several signature poems that pair rhapsodic observations of nature in the city with an expertly modulated voice. References to George Herbert, the apostle Paul, Dante and others enliven this work of frequently accumulative imagery. Now in its thirteenth year, A Field Guide to the Heavens is well-deserving of a new readership.

Nineteen prominent American poets discuss their spiritual lives, and how their faith speaks to them in writing. There is much to be learnt in these personal journeys that name the world anew not just through the word, but through higher meanings of truth. The subject isn’t common, it is important. Contributors include Jane Hirshfield, Grace Paley, Gerald Stern, Joy Harjo, and our contributing editor, Eleanor Wilner.

Thirteen contrapuntal forms consisting of fugues and canons based on a royal theme set for Bach by Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1747. Beautifully performed by the Bratislava-based Slovenian chamber orchestra. The order of the pieces was never made clear by the composer and here the collection is framed by the two Ricercare (the word is based on an acrostic). The second well-known Ricercare (fugue in six voices) is the highlight of the collection.

Winner of the 2009 Iowa Short Fiction Award, this debut presents Cuban and Cuban-American lives in stories that explore redefined relationships; generational tension; South Florida’s blue collar neighborhoods; and women forging identities after painful encounters. Bold, loving, irreverent portraits of extended families play against more serious departures and homecomings — Hialeah as an exile community, and the lodestone for a gifted new voice.

The first woman in space, Nazis in Tibet searching for the yeti, a Victorian explorer, the rude horrors of summer camp, and seven other unexpected first-person tales. Shepard is a meticulous writer, rendering great stories in the clearest prose and most exquisite detail. No punches held for either reader or character, every page thrums with human vulnerability, irony and devastating humor. A 2007 National Book Award finalist.

Thurber’s 1957 tale highlights the absurdity of censorship through an invasion and its consequences. When adventurers Littlejack and Black join forces to steal from the islanders of Ooroo, Black issues an edict that spirals into confiscations and an increasingly restricted life. Books, however, “…have a way of rising out of ashes.” A classic, profound allegory of community and resistance, from the handsomely designed New York Review Children’s Collection.