Explore the world of verse on World Poetry Day

Charissa Ong's debut includes not just poems but also short stories. Succinct but soulful passages throughout, divided into three sections that take one through the stages of heartache, loss, and rediscovering oneself, with one section for the stories. "Going through a rough patch? You're not alone," she seems to say. A Malay-language edition is now available.

A compilation of musings on life through the eyes of a student who came from Lebanon to Canada when she was 16 and worked her way up to become an educator. Contains many one-page reflections on various everyday topics that serve as a lesson and inspiration for pretty much every juncture in a reader's life, especially those who find themselves in a new environment and struggle to belong.

Poetry is often embraced by the young as a means of self-expression, as demonstrated by this collection of poems by Malaysian writers aged 35 and below. Thirty-seven new voices produced 69 poems touching on themes from everyday concerns to identity, growing up, loss, and political satire. Edited by local poet, writer, and academic Malachi Edwin Vethamani.

Celebrity Daiyan Trisha's bestselling collection of 222 poems in Malay and English about love and life paints a vivid portrait of her inner world. Explore themes such as heartbreak, loss, love, self-worth and spiritual connection through her personal odyssey and see that fame and fortune does not insulate one against the vicissitudes of life. We're all human, we all hurt ... and heal.

Features some of Lang Leav's finest pieces to date, including 35 new poems with her original and arresting illustrations. Her evocative outpourings regarding love, loss, and self-empowerment is said to have inspired many to pen their own poems, and while you may not be, we hope you will at least be touched by the verses within.

Chauly's ruminations on ageing, menopause, losing one's children to the world, climate change and more come from a place where few would dare to venture – and fewer still would want to revisit. Nevertheless, Chauly plumbs those murky depths and confronts what lurks within with the reader. Courageous and confessional – perhaps unsettlingly so, this is a powerful collection from one of Malaysia's foremost poets.

Heartbreak spurs the most evocative prose, as does the process of healing from it. So it is with the prose in this volume. Like the weather that plays tricks on people, threatening rain with dark heavy clouds only to remain overcast for the rest of the day, love can be cruel at times with its promises. What's important is knowing that the hurt, like the clouds, will pass, so hang tough.

This deeply intimate and emotional collection sees Ocean Vuong examining grief borne of personal loss and his struggles to come to terms with it. Deaths in the family, whether in the past or the future, is not something one dwells on, but through Vuong's explorations into this foreboding realm, we find comfort, if not answers. Heart-wrenching and haunting.

Ever feel that the universe is sending you a message? The devout and spiritually inclined do, from time to time. Sofia Roses's poems echo sentiments of a young Muslim woman going through the motions of love, sorrow, and mending, all the while keeping in mind that it's all part and parcel of life. Every regret or setback serves as a lesson, fortifying one's faith and gratitude for all that one has. When you're done with this, you can check out the next volume.

The "Queen of Instapoets" uses a simplistic style of verse that seems to have found traction among the younger set, sparking an interest in poetry among them. Themes in this volume include mental health, identity, representation, and friendship. For those who wander, be it in person or in the mind, Rupi invites them to come home and rest.

Not a book of poems, but a novel about an orphan in a fictional American coal-mining town who discovers poetry and how to express herself with it. Several chapters in this novel might as well be lessons on how to start writing poetry, the way it introduces common types of verse and how to construct them. Overall, it's a cosy and comforting read, and you might end up experimenting with verse yourself.