Poems
Begin in delight, end in wisdom.
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Poem of the DayBy Elizabeth Alexander1.My head so bigthey had to pryme out. I’m sorryBird (is what I callmy mother). CassiusMarcellus Clay,Muhammad Ali;you can saymy name in anylanguage, anycontinent: Ali.2.Two photographsof Emmett Till,born my year,on my birthday.One, he’s smiling,happy, and the other oneis after. His...
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poemBy Phillis WheatleySoon as the sun forsook the eastern mainThe pealing thunder shook the heav'nly plain;Majestic grandeur! From the zephyr's wing,Exhales the incense of the blooming spring.Soft purl the streams, the birds renew their notes,And through the air their mingled music floats.Through...
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poemBy Tracy K. SmithWe were made to understand it would beTerrible. Every small want, every niggling urge,Every hate swollen to a kind of epic wind.Livid, the land, and ravaged, like a ragefulDream. The worst of us having taken overAnd broken the rest utterly...
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poemBy Alison C. RollinsFor the time beingan ampersand is a boyclutching his kneesto his chest as art.On high, the god of formwears a face on each wrist.Only a god can take and givetime, but the one in front ofthe gun lasts forever.The boy...
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Featured Poems
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By Gerald Stern
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By Emily Brontë
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By Ange Mlinko
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By Bruce Weigl
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By Kenneth Rexroth
Featured
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collectionClassic and contemporary poems of gratitude to send when you’re feeling thankful.
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collection
The mid-century countercultural poets who helped define a generation.
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From the Current Issue of Poetry Magazine
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poemBy Robin Richardson
She could live on chips on paint chips potato chips the poker chips he stacked in towers on the nightstand she could live in glass or underground or in his Cadillac she lived inside his head his cowboy boots she...
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poemBy Jennifer MilitelloDear sir, your air of authorityleaves me lost. Eases me froma place of ease. Contracts withmy contradictions to take from mea place. Autopilots my autobiography.Frightens my fright. Sighs withmy breath. Wins at my race.Your certainty has me curtained.Your nerve has...
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Featured Poet Guides
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By Benjamin Voigt
Experiencing the idiosyncratic playfulness of one of America’s great poets.
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Teach with Poetry
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Poem GuideBy Ange Mlinko
The poet inhabits a dog and listens to his master’s voice.
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Poem GuideBy Stephanie Burt
Tracing the many conflicting meanings of the word "blood."
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