Balakian is the author of seven books of poems, including, most recently, "Ozone Journal" (2015). His other books are "Father Fisheye" (1979), "Sad Days of Light" (1983), "Reply From Wilderness Island" (1988), "Dyer's Thistle" (1996), "June-tree: New and Selected Poems 1974–2000" (2000), "Ziggurat" (2010), and several fine limited editions. His poems have appeared widely in American magazines and journals such as The Nation, The New Republic, Antaeus, Partisan Review, Poetry, AGNI, and The Kenyon Review; and in anthologies such as New Directions in Prose and Poetry, "The Morrow Anthology of Younger American Poets", "Poetry's 75th Anniversary Issue" (1987), "The Wadsworth Anthology of Poetry" and others.