With chapters written by leading scholars such as Steven Gould Axelrod, Cary Nelson, Aldon Lynn Nielsen and Marjorie Perloff, this comprehensive Handbook explores the full range and diversity of poetry and criticism in 21st-century America.

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Contemporary American Poetry covers such topics as:

- Major histories and genealogies of post-war poetry - from the language poets and the Black Arts Movement to New York school and the Beats
- Poetry, identity and community - from African American, Chicana/o and Native American poetry to Queer verse and the poetics of disability
- Key genres and forms - including digital, visual, documentary and children's poetry
- Central critical themes - economics, publishing, popular culture, ecopoetics, translation and biography

The book also includes an interview section in which major contemporary poets such as Rae Armantrout, Charles Bernstein and Claudia Rankine reflect on the craft and value of poetry today.