We rounded up some of the best short story and poetry collections of 2018 for you to devour after the turkey and between those lazy tryptophan-induced naps. These are seven short books to read during your turkey coma.

Big Windows by Lauren Moseley

In Big Windows, Lauren Moseley compares windows to boundaries, exploring their limitations vs. their potential permeability. Taking the reader through themes of love, marriage, family and self, Moseley teeters between the real and imagined world with the rhythms of folk and her southern roots.

Three Poems by Hannah Sullivan

Hannah Sullivan’s debut collection of three long poems has been celebrated for her modern perspective and brilliant new voice. From the contrasting hopes and disenchantment of youth in “You, Very Young in New York” to the exploration of life and death in “The Sandpit after Rain,” Sullivan’s works are deeply personal and philosophical.

Virgin by Analicia Sotelo

Selected by Ross Gay as the winner of the inaugural Jake Adam York Prize, Analicia Sotelo’s imaginative debut collection is part autobiography and part fantasy, exploring what it means to be a woman, from both a personal and societal perspective.

Back Talk by Danielle Lazarin

This bold collection of short stories examines the small window in which our culture offers women to express their desires. Author Danielle Lazarin takes readers through the painful end of a marriage as a woman experiments with power and friendship, through the death of a mother and the journey of a young grieving teen, and the delicate balance between give and take.

Take Me With You by Andrea Gibson

In Take Me With You, Andrea Gibson, one of today’s most influential poets, boldly explores themes of love, gender, politics, sexuality, family and forgiveness. The poems are wise and thoughtful, and are illustrated throughout with evocative line drawings by Sarah J. Coleman.

If They Come For Us by Fatimah Asghar

In language both lyrical and raw, Fatimah Asghar’s collection explores her experience of navigating adolescence, sexuality, race and education without a family, interwoven with themes of compassion, vulnerability and violence.

Awayland: Stories by Ramona Ausubel

Ramona Ausubel’s latest collection introduces 11 short stories that span the globe and beyond, from small-town America to the afterlife. Through the eyes of travelers and expats, shadows and ghosts, Ausubel explores the universal themes of love, childhood and parenthood with humor and undeniable emotion.