2012 was the year of the big collected volume when it came to poetry. It was intimidating, even for the most hardened poetry fans. But critic Craig Morgan Teicher says 2013 will be full of slim collections that are still smart, important and powerful.

Anne Carson's newest book of poetry will be called Red Doc>.

Peter Smith

Now that we're done with all that fiscal cliff wrangling (sort of), it's time to move on to priority No. 2: the next year in poetry. Just kidding. But, with the whole year stretching out before us, it is a good time to get excited about what literature has in store.

2012 was the year of colossal books of collected poems (from Jack Gilbert, who passed away shortly after his book's publication; Louise Glück; Lucille Clifton and one or two others). While 2013 doesn't promise so many monumental doorstoppers, it's packed with powerful, important and comfortably slim volumes of new poems by famous poets, as well as some books poetry lovers will love from poets whose names might be new to them. Here's a look at the eight you won't want to miss.

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