Joseph Lease's critically acclaimed books of poetry include The Body Ghost (Coffee House Press, 2018), Testify (Coffee House Press, 2011), and Broken World (Coffee House Press, 2007). Lease’s poems "'Broken World' (For James Assatly)" and "Send My Roots Rain" were anthologized in Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology. "'Broken World' (For James Assatly)" was also anthologized in The Best American Poetry (Robert Creeley, guest editor). Lease's poem “Free Again (Why don’t people)” was published in the New York Times.

With Peter Alvarez.