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Poetry Foundation

Explore poetry across eras, genres, and formats

Poem

From the magazine:How to Write a Yusefian Ode

By Terrance Hayes

You are pursuing a feeling like the dust
In the voice of Bob Kaufman plus the mud
Of the most fertile…

A vase made of paper with a red paper flower is surrounded by crumpled up balls of paper in front of a sky blue background.

Prose from Poetry Magazine

From the magazine:Ballad-ish: On Common Meter

By Lindsay Turner

There’s something fundamental—like a heartbeat or a nursery rhyme—about the beating, ballad-ish quatrain.

Poem

From the magazine:
From “People Who Look Like You” [“This white man is known for his tallness”]

By Lisa Low

This white man is known for his tallness. When he was in high school, people suggested he play basketball…

Poem

From the magazine:Little Palm

By Lesyk Panasiuk

Translated By Katie Farris & Ilya Kaminsky

Pretend you are a potato
& hide in a sack
peek at the earth through a hole
while they are carrying you
from the garden to the cellar...

Poem

From the magazine:
Dear Stutter [“Certain words are still warm with your touch”]

By Adam Giannelli

Certain words are still warm with your touch: stutter,
for instance. It always gives me trouble. Perhaps…

Poem of the day

From the magazine:Clouds

By Rüştü Onur

Translated By Hüseyin Alhas & Ulaş Özgün

Clouds are on the yardarms,

Clouds are sailful.

Desires are on pomegranate trees...

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Poetry Dec2025 cover RGB

— Nur Turkmani

— Nur Turkmani

Poem

From the magazine:Scimitar

By Arthur Sze

Poem

From the magazine:On Humility

By Shara Lessley

Poem

From the magazine:Kalsarikänni

By Michael Bazzett

Light blue cover for the November 2025 issue of POETRY with the word POETRY in a grid, composed of black letters in various designs.

— January Gill O’Neil

— January Gill O’Neil

Poem

From the magazine:Self-Portrait in Granulated Sugar

By David Hernandez

Poem

From the magazine:Mira with Sarcasm

By Mirabai

Translated By Chloe Martinez

Poem

From the magazine:I Was Lt. Uhura

By January Gill O’Neil

Cover for the October 2025 issue of POETRY magazine.

— Abraham Smith

— Abraham Smith

Poem

From the magazine:Karma Affirmation Cistern Don’t Be Afraid Keep Going Toward the Horror

By Gabrielle Calvocoressi

Poem

From the magazine:A Conversation with My Mother About the Bloodstains on My Shirt

By Darius Simpson

Poem

From the magazine:there are no toothbrushes in heaven

By marion eames white

Sept2025 poetry cover 300dpi RGB

— Alexis Pauline Gumbs.

— Alexis Pauline Gumbs.

Poem

From the magazine:Chipping Sparrow

By Susan Howe

Poem

From the magazine:Raucous Prayer

By Patrick Rosal

Poem

From the magazine:Kamau

By Anthony Joseph

The Poetry Foundation transforms lives through the power of words. Our work aims to amplify poetry and celebrate poets by fostering spaces for all to create, experience, and share poetry.

How We Fulfill Our Mission

Featured Poets

Poet Patricia Smith wearing a beaded necklace and smiling with her hand on her chin

Patricia Smith

B. 1955

Patricia Smith

B. 1955

Patricia Smith (she/her) has been called “a testament to the power of words to change lives.” She is the author of Unshuttered (Northwestern University Press, 2023), Incendiary Art (Northwestern University Press, 2017), winner of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, an NAACP Image Award, and finalist for both the Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize; Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah (Coffee House, 2012), which won the Lenore Marshall...

Poem Sampler

Patricia Smith: Selections

By Benjamin Voigt

Poem

From the magazine:
Nap Unleashed

By Patricia Smith

Poem

Katrina

By Patricia Smith

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