April is National Poetry Month, a month set aside to celebrate poetry and its vital place in our society. Launched by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, this month-long celebration has attracted millions of readers, students, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and poets.

Each Friday of April, I will share a favorite poetry collection.

Today’s pick is What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer, “a stunning and honest debut poetry collection about the beauty and hardships in being a mother, a wife, and a woman.”

When this debut collection was published in 2020, it climbed to the top of the New York Times Best Seller List. Divided into three parts (Woman, Wife, Mother), the poems stretch from five lines to a page and a half. While the entire collection could be read in one sitting, its insights and advice will linger long afterward.

I found myself gravitating toward the “advice” poems in each section, often feeling the urge to pause and take notes. I also questioned my own impulse to seek—or give—guidance and realized that while advice is easily dispensed, it is rarely absorbed. Often, that advice reveals more about the speaker than the listener.

In the poem “Robyn Hood,” Ms. Baer begins by asking “Imagine if we took back our diets” and then recommends taking back the time wasted on “grand delusions” and “the curve of our form” and focusing instead on “the power of loose arms and assurance.”

In the “Wife” section, Ms. Baer doesn’t mince words in the poem “For the Advice Cards at Bridal Showers.” She offers this blunt truth: “When someone asks for the secret to a happy marriage, remember you don’t know.”

In the “Mother” section, the advice becomes more pointed. In “For the Advice Cards at Baby Showers,” she writes:

“Baby socks don’t matter, but more importantly—
neither does advice. This is not a performance
for your friend or your mother or the woman
in line who tells you about coats.”

In this slim volume, Ms. Baer gives voice to a wide spectrum of the female experience. Readers may find themselves reflected in these poems—sometimes comforted, sometimes unsettled. Women of all ages will find several (if not many) poems that resonate. As for men, they may gain insights if they choose to read the poems with open hearts and minds.

Here’s one of my favorite poems:

Robyn Hood

Imagine if we took back our diets,
our grand delusions, the time spent
thinking about the curve of our form.
Imagine if we took back every time we
called attention to one or the other: her
body, our body, the bad shape of things.

Imagine the minutes that would stretch
into hours. Day after day, stolen back like
a thief.

Imagine the power of loose arms and
assurance. The years welcomed home
in a soft, cotton dress.