Poetry

What the Living Do (Marie Howe)

When I don’t have the right words to share with someone who is experiencing the wilds of grief, I will often share this poem. I first read it when I was a 14 year old grappling with my first true loss, and - unlike so many works of art we love as tweens - it has never faded or started to look cheesy or saccharine. It’s a perfect thing, growing lovelier each year.

My Favorite Late August Poem, and Now Yours Too

Vespers, from The Wild Iris, Louise Glück, 1992.

Instructions on Not Giving Up

By Ada Limòn

Morgan Ritter's poem tags

Love, love, love these scraps of verse/clothes tags by Mo Ritter. They are dedicated to the memory of a beloved grandfather, a tailor who survived the concentration camps and used his skills to help others hide little treasures in their coat lapels. Sew them in a collar Glue them to a dollar Pin them on a quilt Tuck them in your kilt Use them as a bookmark Diffuse them in the bathroom Plug them into your console Give one to a friend Watch it blow in the wind

How to Triumph Like a Girl By Ada Limón

An anthem, really.

The Peace of Wild Things, Wendell Berry

how truly beautiful nature helps you realize the smallness of you, and the vastness of peace in creation.

August Day by Jane Hirshfield

Jane Hirschfield is a sensory genius

Alan Sobrino's poetry measuring tape (Cinta Para Medir)

For measuring reality with poetry. The length is 30 love verses in Spanish, with the English translation on the reverse side.

Anne Sexton The Complete Poems

Every woman needs to read Anne Sexton--raw, confessional, beautiful, vibrant, the female experience.

Porn Carnival: Paradise Edition

You’re reading poetry. You’re reading about sex. You’re reading poetry about sex. Post up in the courtyard somewhere safe (a graduate school library, a cafe, on the steps of the Met, the backyard at a party because not enough people read at parties) and let it flow. Just don’t abuse your new power!

Oyster

A summer poem to read aloud before gently clinking glasses, and enjoying a platter of shucked oysters.

“Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota” by James Wright

I love reading this poem, and I love reading Dan Piepenburg's short, thoughtful 2015 Paris Review blog post about the conflicting reactions it inspires + poetry as failure.

connect with the big things

The Fallujiad

This guy is writing an epic poem about the battle of Fallujah in iambic pentameter. Extremely ambitious, a little crazy. I’ve only read the first canto so far, but it rocked; psyched to read the rest

Comment Posted by Kristen, Cup of Joe Reader

I love this comment/poem about a hike that appeared on Cup Of Jo @joanna goddard

Come, Thief by Jane Hirschfield

Thinking of this incredible poet today.

Green for Luck by Margaret Yapp

i really really love this book of poems! it's so beautiful – loving, light touch, gorgeous syntax. sometimes when i'm wanting to get into the writing mood i'll read a bit from this

CAConrad at the Poetry Foundation

(plus another poem for the joy of it) Acclimating to Discomfort of the System Breaking Beneath Us           I do not take any            calls except from           the century we are in when there is no bible in my hotel room  it makes me sad to have no place to put      my filthy poems for future guests       it is important to let them know everyone should burn with abandon as soon as the heat is available  be a self-styled alarm clock no one can shut off    be the storm Love places in someone's home          are you sure we can handle this           because I am absolutely certain            c'mon wind knock us around              we are a tide that cures ills                look at us in the mirror        as soon as the invented language enters       us something else will vibrate in our skin      opening door with teeth of the future to    the place where we let the freer feeling go when you told me you had been looking for me         we pressed through every        invisible barrier between us      I watched you gently let the gods    know you are ready to win the lottery         there were people from the            19th century alive in my             lifetime many years ago               I met some of them             they are all gone now              as we hold on to              the side of one            another howling down            the velocity of seconds

Having a Coke with You

By Frank O’Hara

Loose Woman (Sandra Cisneros)

If you enjoyed The House on Mango Street, you might dig this poetry collection from Sandra Cisneros. "You Bring Out the Mexican in Me" is unforgettable.

Travel By Edna St. Vincent Millay

In 2014, this poem was in the body of an email and the subject line was simply, “Poem that rhyme.”

Everything is Waiting for You — David Whyte

This poem (and this interview) changed my life. Nearly ten years in its company and still think of it all the time to remind myself of just how much we belong, in our fullness.

Mutability - Percy Shelley

My favorite poem 💟 long live all the Romantics of the world 🌹

Despite My Efforts Even My Prayers Have Turned into Threats

By Kaveh Akbar