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Poem of The Day
From the magazine:On Leaving the Bachelorette Brunch
On Leaving the Bachelorette Brunch
By Rachel Wetzsteon
Because I gazed out the window at birds
doing backflips when the subject turned
to diamonds, because my eyes glazed over
with the slightly sleepy sheen your cake will wear,
never let it be said that I’d rather be
firing arrows at heart-shaped dartboards
or in...
doing backflips when the subject turned
to diamonds, because my eyes glazed over
with the slightly sleepy sheen your cake will wear,
never let it be said that I’d rather be
firing arrows at heart-shaped dartboards
or in...
Poem of The Day
From the magazine:Sissieretta Jones
Sissieretta Jones
By Tyehimba Jess
I sing this body ad libitum, Europe scraped raw between my teeth until, presto, “Ave Maria” floats to the surface from a Tituba tributary of “Swanee.” Until I’m a legato darkling whole note, my voice shimmering up from the Atlantic’s...
Poem
From the magazine:From “Small Sargasso Mountains” [“The words of the poem”]
From “Small Sargasso Mountains” [“The words of the poem”]
By Antonio Ochoa
The words of the poem give shape to what is appearing. Surfacing is possible due to the voice that blows up the words. This does not deny its previous existence in a wind, perhaps, appreciated only by intuition. For me, the shape continues to appear in words of Mexico City Spanish. At night, when my brother and I were kids, our …
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Featured Poetic Term
Glossary Terms
A formal, often ceremonious lyric poem that addresses and often celebrates a person, place, thing, or idea. Its stanza forms vary.
Poem Guides
Poem GuideBy Christopher SpaideA madcap fracas! Law and dastards clash! All As!
Poem GuideBy Joel BrouwerReality and representation mix in this classic poem.
Poem GuideBy Stephanie BurtTracing the many conflicting meanings of the word "blood."
From the Poetry Magazine Archive
- PoemFrom the magazine:
A Whole Foods in Hawai‘i
By Craig Santos PerezI dreamed of you tonight, Wayne Kaumualii Westlake, as I walked down on the sidewalk under plumeria trees with a vog headache looking at the Māhealani moon.
In my need fo’ grindz, and hungry fo’ modernity, I stumbled into the gentrified... - PoemFrom the magazine:
One Kind of Hunger
By Lehua M. TaitanoThe Seneca carry stories in satchels.
They are made of pounded corn and a grandmother’s throat.
The right boy will approach the dampness of a forest with a sling, a modest twining wreath for the bodies of birds. A liquid eye.
When ruffed... - PoemFrom the magazine:
Everybody Has a Heartache: A Blues
By Joy HarjoIn the United terminal in Chicago at five on a Friday afternoon
The sky is breaking with rain and wind and all the flights
Are delayed forever. We will never get to where we are going
And there’s no way back to where...
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