April 25, 2012
Eating Poetry by Mark Strand Ink runs from the corners of my mouth. There is no happiness like mine. I have been eating poetry. . The librarian does not believe what she sees. Her eyes are sad and she walks with her hands in her dress. . The poems are gone. The light is dim. The dogs are […]
April 24, 2012
“Hope is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson “Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all – . And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard – And sore must be the storm – […]
April 23, 2012
Sonnet XXII by William Shakespeare My glass shall not persuade me I am old, So long as youth and thou are of one date; But when in thee time’s furrows I behold, Then look I death my days should expiate. For all that beauty that doth cover thee, Is but the seemly raiment of my […]
April 22, 2012
Having Intended to Merely Pick on an Oil Company, the Poem Goes Awry by Bob Hicok Never before have I so resembled British Petroleum. They–it?–are concerned about the environment. I–it?–am concerned about the environment. They–him?–convey their concern through commercials, in which a man talks softly about the importance of the Earth. I–doodad?–convey my concern through […]
April 21, 2012
Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins Glory be to God for dappled things– For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim; Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings; Landscape plotted and pieced–fold, fallow, and plough; And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim. . […]
April 20, 2012
“What horror to awake at night” by Lorine Niedecker What horror to awake at night And in the dimness see the light. Time is white mosquitoes bite I’ve spent my life on nothing. . The thought that stings. How are you, Nothing, Sitting around with Something’s wife. Buzz and burn is […]
April 19, 2012
Angels by Katha Pollitt They thought the job would be more musical: Rainbows and trumpets. They’d burst through clouds of marble streaked with flame . and offer blinding demonstrations of the ontological proof of God. People would look up and say “Ineffable!” . Instead, they swooped through the mall calling Ashley? Pammy? fished Mrs. Baines’ […]
April 18, 2012
Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Listen, my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.
April 17, 2012
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout by Shel Silverstein Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would not take the garbage out! She’d scour the pots and scrape the pans, Candy the yams and spice the hams, And though her daddy would scream and shout, She simply would not take the garbage out.
April 16, 2012
“I Am Not I” by Juan Ramon Jimenez I am not I. I am this one walking beside me whom I do not see, whom at times I manage to visit, and whom at other times I forget; who remains calm and silent while I talk, and forgives, gently, when I hate, who walks […]