Poems
Poem of The Day
By Tess Gallagher
Heartbeat trembling
your kingdom
of leaves
near the ceremony
of water, I never
insisted on you. I admit
I delayed. I was the Empress
of Delay. But it can’t be
put off now. On the sacred branch
of my only voice – I insist.
Insist for us all,
which is the...
your kingdom
of leaves
near the ceremony
of water, I never
insisted on you. I admit
I delayed. I was the Empress
of Delay. But it can’t be
put off now. On the sacred branch
of my only voice – I insist.
Insist for us all,
which is the...
Poem of The Day
By Ilya Kaminsky
I kissed a woman
whose freckles
aroused our neighbors.
Her trembling lips
meant come to bed.
Her hair falling down in the middle
of the conversation
meant come to bed.
I walked in my hospital of thoughts.
Yes, I carried her off to bed
on the chair of my
hairy...
whose freckles
aroused our neighbors.
Her trembling lips
meant come to bed.
Her hair falling down in the middle
of the conversation
meant come to bed.
I walked in my hospital of thoughts.
Yes, I carried her off to bed
on the chair of my
hairy...
Poem of The Day
By Reginald Shepherd
Petrarch dreams of pebbles
on the tongue, he loves me
at a distance, black polished stone
skipping the lake that swallows
worn-down words, a kind of drown
and drench and quench and very kind
to what I would've said. Light marries
water and what else (unfit
for drinking...
on the tongue, he loves me
at a distance, black polished stone
skipping the lake that swallows
worn-down words, a kind of drown
and drench and quench and very kind
to what I would've said. Light marries
water and what else (unfit
for drinking...
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Featured Poetic Term
Glossary Terms
A Malaysian verse form in quatrains with an intricate repeating pattern.
Poem Guides
Poem GuideBy Stephanie BurtTracing the many conflicting meanings of the word "blood."
Poem GuideBy Caitlin KimballThis poem finds its author not raving but frowning.
Poem GuideBy Robin EkissLucille Clifton celebrates self-discovery in “won’t you celebrate with me.”
From the Poetry Magazine Archive
- PoemBy John Lee ClarkA Deaf Blind poet doesn’t like to read sitting up. A Deaf Blind poet likes to read Braille magazines on the john. A Deaf Blind poet is in the habit of composing nineteenth-century letters and pressing Alt+S. A Deaf Blind poet is a terrible...
- PoemBy Suzi F. GarciaA muster of peacocks show off their tails, but instead of feathers, knives. And smoke where their voices should be. I breathe gray until it fills my throat, choking on tulle. On the loudspeaker, a mutation of a voiceover, a...
- PoemBy Raymond Antrobus1
My ear amps whistle like they are singing
to Echo, goddess of noise,
the raveled knot of tongues,
of blaring birds, consonant crumbs
of dull doorbells, sounds swamped
in my misty hearing aid tubes.
Gaudí believed in holy sound
and built a cathedral to contain it,
pulling...
Featured terms
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Pantoum
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Scansion
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Sijo
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Dactyl
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Invocation