O Ye Tongues by Anne Sexton
![Anne Sexton](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_0YhDfBhyiQZigUBOY8pb2UThySDDrBmSWzoezSm9.jpeg)
First Psalm
Let there be a God as large as a sunlamp to laugh his heat at you.
Let there be an earth with a form like a jigsaw and let it fit for all of ye.
Let there be the darkness of a darkroom out of the deep. A worm room.
Let there be a God who sees light at the end of a long thin pipe and lets it in.
Let God divide them in half.
Let God share his Hoodsie.
Let the waters divide so that God may wash his face in first light.
Read Poem Let there be a God as large as a sunlamp to laugh his heat at you.
Let there be an earth with a form like a jigsaw and let it fit for all of ye.
Let there be the darkness of a darkroom out of the deep. A worm room.
Let there be a God who sees light at the end of a long thin pipe and lets it in.
Let God divide them in half.
Let God share his Hoodsie.
Let the waters divide so that God may wash his face in first light.
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On Laws by Kahlil Gibran
![Kahlil Gibran](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_sfG6n4tUdZW6G6NfVErySWbvniHuZY5km8dY3745.jpeg)
Then a lawyer said, But what of our Laws,
master?
And he answered:
You delight in laying down laws,
Yet you delight more in breaking them.
Like children playing by the ocean who
build sand-towers with constancy and then
destroy them with laughter.
Read Poem master?
And he answered:
You delight in laying down laws,
Yet you delight more in breaking them.
Like children playing by the ocean who
build sand-towers with constancy and then
destroy them with laughter.
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Two-Part Inventions by Anne Winters
![Anne Winters](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
ONE
The First Invention, ear laid to earth, is listening
to the fingerlength underground beings moving in segments
through tiny tunnels; one inch shrugs out another,
as bamboo climbs in segments, joint by green joint ...
Or an inexpressive mask that must travel
the world, uphill and down, always keeping its own
counsel, impelling forwardfrom inward—
Read Poem The First Invention, ear laid to earth, is listening
to the fingerlength underground beings moving in segments
through tiny tunnels; one inch shrugs out another,
as bamboo climbs in segments, joint by green joint ...
Or an inexpressive mask that must travel
the world, uphill and down, always keeping its own
counsel, impelling forwardfrom inward—
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To a Print of Queen Victoria by James K. Baxter
![James K. Baxter](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_xgQhA7remSEacpgUYiKOiksFBnbhCqb9GB1f9qQ4.jpeg)
I advise rest; the farmhouse
we dug you up in has been
modernized, and the people
who hung you as their ikon
against the long passage wall
are underground — Incubus
and excellent woman, we
inherit the bone acre
Read Poem we dug you up in has been
modernized, and the people
who hung you as their ikon
against the long passage wall
are underground — Incubus
and excellent woman, we
inherit the bone acre
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Sonnet 34: Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day by William Shakespeare
![William Shakespeare](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_LIshk0OYoGQiQRlFsX56zUPHjrJnY4whjKyDurmB.jpeg)
Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day,
And make me travel forth without my cloak,
To let base clouds o’ertake me in my way,
Hiding thy bravery in their rotten smoke?
‘Tis not enough that through the cloud thou break,
To dry the rain on my storm-beaten face,
For no man well of such a salve can speak
That heals the wound and cures not the disgrace:
Read Poem And make me travel forth without my cloak,
To let base clouds o’ertake me in my way,
Hiding thy bravery in their rotten smoke?
‘Tis not enough that through the cloud thou break,
To dry the rain on my storm-beaten face,
For no man well of such a salve can speak
That heals the wound and cures not the disgrace:
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Traveler, your footprints by Antonio Machado
![Antonio Machado](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_mdtNmk8MN1pFNUlJUeoIz9fk33A35en11Kg2Ehxs.jpeg)
Traveler, your footprints
are the only road, nothing else.
Traveler, there is no road;
you make your own path as you walk.
As you walk, you make your own road,
and when you look back
you see the path
you will never travel again.
Read Poem are the only road, nothing else.
Traveler, there is no road;
you make your own path as you walk.
As you walk, you make your own road,
and when you look back
you see the path
you will never travel again.
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My Days among the Dead are Past by Robert Southey
![Robert Southey](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_AnY1VS5bg78h7nJvtRhY6iONCsPyATiR311x4hpK.gif)
My days among the Dead are past;
Around me I behold,
Where'er these casual eyes are cast,
The mighty minds of old;
My never-failing friends are they,
With whom I converse day by day.
With them I take delight in weal,
And seek relief in woe;
And while I understand and feel
How much to them I owe,
My cheeks have often been bedew'd
With tears of thoughtful gratitude.
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In Trust by Thom Gunn
![Thom Gunn](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_yvboHAfIPhRbYV6pDFQn0urVaWbI1vZn0b35UWrD.jpeg)
You go from me
In June for months on end
To study equanimity
Among high trees alone;
I go out with a new boyfriend
And stay all summer in the city where
Home mostly on my own
I watch the sunflowers flare.
Read Poem In June for months on end
To study equanimity
Among high trees alone;
I go out with a new boyfriend
And stay all summer in the city where
Home mostly on my own
I watch the sunflowers flare.
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On the Move by Thom Gunn
![Thom Gunn](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_yvboHAfIPhRbYV6pDFQn0urVaWbI1vZn0b35UWrD.jpeg)
The blue jay scuffling in the bushes follows
Some hidden purpose, and the gust of birds
That spurts across the field, the wheeling swallows,
Has nested in the trees and undergrowth.
Seeking their instinct, or their poise, or both,
One moves with an uncertain violence
Under the dust thrown by a baffled sense
Or the dull thunder of approximate words.
Read Poem Some hidden purpose, and the gust of birds
That spurts across the field, the wheeling swallows,
Has nested in the trees and undergrowth.
Seeking their instinct, or their poise, or both,
One moves with an uncertain violence
Under the dust thrown by a baffled sense
Or the dull thunder of approximate words.
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Paradise Lost: Book 2 (1674 version) by John Milton
![John Milton](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_XydgYSozhAHxi8BAFqxni5JfX8MD7WmUZOB4n2ug.jpeg)
HIgh on a Throne of Royal State, which far
Outshon the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Showrs on her Kings Barbaric Pearl and Gold,
Satan exalted sat, by merit rais'd
To that bad eminence; and from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain Warr with Heav'n, and by success untaught
His proud imaginations thus displaid.
Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heav'n,
For since no deep within her gulf can hold
Immortal vigor, though opprest and fall'n,
I give not Heav'n for lost.From this descent
Read Poem Outshon the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Showrs on her Kings Barbaric Pearl and Gold,
Satan exalted sat, by merit rais'd
To that bad eminence; and from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain Warr with Heav'n, and by success untaught
His proud imaginations thus displaid.
Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heav'n,
For since no deep within her gulf can hold
Immortal vigor, though opprest and fall'n,
I give not Heav'n for lost.From this descent
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Paradise Lost: Book 5 (1674 version) by John Milton
![John Milton](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_XydgYSozhAHxi8BAFqxni5JfX8MD7WmUZOB4n2ug.jpeg)
NOw Morn her rosie steps in th' Eastern Clime
Advancing, sow'd the earth with Orient Pearle,
When Adam wak't, so customd, for his sleep
Was Aerie light from pure digestion bred,
And temperat vapors bland, which th' only sound
Of leaves and fuming rills, Aurora's fan,
Lightly dispers'd, and the shrill Matin Song
Of Birds on every bough; so much the more
His wonder was to find unwak'nd Eve
With Tresses discompos'd, and glowing Cheek,
As through unquiet rest: he on his side
Leaning half-rais'd, with looks of cordial Love
Hung over her enamour'd, and beheld
Beautie, which whether waking or asleep,
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Your World by Georgia Douglas Johnson
![Georgia Douglas Johnson](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_HhcqbDFPsOhSJFo9OaExzGn1VhZn6GJUW38hi1rh.jpeg)
Your world is as big as you make it.
I know, for I used to abide
In the narrowest nest in a corner,
My wings pressing close to my side.
But I sighted the distant horizon
Where the skyline encircled the sea
And I throbbed with a burning desire
To travel this immensity.
I battered the cordons around me
And cradled my wings on the breeze,
Then soared to the uttermost reaches
With rapture, with power, with ease!
Read Poem I know, for I used to abide
In the narrowest nest in a corner,
My wings pressing close to my side.
But I sighted the distant horizon
Where the skyline encircled the sea
And I throbbed with a burning desire
To travel this immensity.
I battered the cordons around me
And cradled my wings on the breeze,
Then soared to the uttermost reaches
With rapture, with power, with ease!
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Something Amazing Just Happened by Ted Berrigan
![Ted Berrigan](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
for Jim Carroll, on his birthday A lovely body gracefully is nodding
Out of a blue Buffalo
Read Poem Out of a blue Buffalo
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Oedipal Strivings by Frederick Seidel
![Frederick Seidel](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_VKqYshQSKTPhstKuh4ry3xVBnhCUJcc43GEgWIH0.jpeg)
A dinosaur egg opens in a lab
And out steps my paternal grandfather, Sam,
Already taller than a man,
And on his way to becoming a stomping mile-high predator, so I ran.
I never knew my mother’s father, who may have been a suicide.
He was buried in a pauper’s grave my mother tried
To find, without success. Jews grab
The thing they love unless it’s ham,
And hold it tightly to them lest it die—
Or like my mother try
To find the ham they couldn’t hold.
A hot ham does get cold.
Grampa, monster of malevolence,
I’m told was actually a rare old-fashioned gentleman of courtly benevolence.
Read Poem And out steps my paternal grandfather, Sam,
Already taller than a man,
And on his way to becoming a stomping mile-high predator, so I ran.
I never knew my mother’s father, who may have been a suicide.
He was buried in a pauper’s grave my mother tried
To find, without success. Jews grab
The thing they love unless it’s ham,
And hold it tightly to them lest it die—
Or like my mother try
To find the ham they couldn’t hold.
A hot ham does get cold.
Grampa, monster of malevolence,
I’m told was actually a rare old-fashioned gentleman of courtly benevolence.
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To the One Who is Reading Me by Jorge Luis Borges
![Jorge Luis Borges](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_ODAemyiSWRQuXVxXN76IavxnYLiUQ01ygdUgSc8Q.png)
You are invulnerable. Didn’t they deliver
(those forces that control your destiny)
the certainty of dust? Couldn’t it be
your irreversible time is that river
in whose bright mirror Heraclitus read
his brevity? A marble slab is saved
for you, one you won’t read, already graved
with city, epitaph, dates of the dead.
Read Poem (those forces that control your destiny)
the certainty of dust? Couldn’t it be
your irreversible time is that river
in whose bright mirror Heraclitus read
his brevity? A marble slab is saved
for you, one you won’t read, already graved
with city, epitaph, dates of the dead.
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Desert by Adonis
![Adonis](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
The cities dissolve, and the earth is a cart loaded with dust
Only poetry knows how to pair itself to this space.
No road to this house, a siege,
and his house is graveyard.
Read Poem Only poetry knows how to pair itself to this space.
No road to this house, a siege,
and his house is graveyard.
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The Ghost of a Hunter by Keith Waldrop
![Keith Waldrop](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_sFdi3oDbMsRJOqa8nJFQqei3rE45Uvuhs78VUBPo.jpeg)
He reads: What soul suffers in secret, the flesh shows openly.
Deep within, in a region hardly accessible, a bold self-image
sends messages of bloodshed and conquest, which reverberate in
his heart of hearts.
[I forget which hand is writing.]
He does not doubt that he exists.
The five senses have left their mark on him. It is a record of
what has happened to him, but he cannot talk or travel until he
Read Poem Deep within, in a region hardly accessible, a bold self-image
sends messages of bloodshed and conquest, which reverberate in
his heart of hearts.
[I forget which hand is writing.]
He does not doubt that he exists.
The five senses have left their mark on him. It is a record of
what has happened to him, but he cannot talk or travel until he
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The New Noah by Adonis
![Adonis](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
1
We travel upon the Ark, in mud and rain,
Our oars promises from God.
We live—and the rest of Humanity dies.
We travel upon the waves, fastening
Our lives to the ropes of corpses filling the skies.
But between Heaven and us is an opening,
A porthole for a supplication.
Read Poem We travel upon the Ark, in mud and rain,
Our oars promises from God.
We live—and the rest of Humanity dies.
We travel upon the waves, fastening
Our lives to the ropes of corpses filling the skies.
But between Heaven and us is an opening,
A porthole for a supplication.
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Pain in the House by Eleanor Ross Taylor
![Eleanor Ross Taylor](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_Tcr6v4iA3ryo45b0AaTWFQMhjCxkyHQ12L64zY8z.jpeg)
Feeling her head pick up her body,
question mark,
blurred misstamped question mark
snakes out of bed,
trying to jiggle unhappiness
as little as possible,
not to wake pain,
not to raise a shade,
Read Poem question mark,
blurred misstamped question mark
snakes out of bed,
trying to jiggle unhappiness
as little as possible,
not to wake pain,
not to raise a shade,
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Kumina by Kamau Brathwaite
![Kamau Brathwaite](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_YPC6qMhvcfD5qf36yJQdhuilSpWzYHJHW1F5CbNv.jpeg)
for DreamChad on the death of her sun Mark - mark this word mark this place + tyme - at Papine Kingston Jamaica - age 29
midnight 28/29 April 2001-1002-0210-0120-0020-0000
rev 29 feb 04
Read Poem midnight 28/29 April 2001-1002-0210-0120-0020-0000
rev 29 feb 04
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from The Task, Book II: The Time-Piece by William Cowper
![William Cowper](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_EDZ5F2QwoYTgGTzGUo8Gloci5IysDzwK3OrAy8XG.jpeg)
(excerpt) England, with all thy faults, I love thee still
My country! and while yet a nook is left
Where English minds and manners may be found,
Shall be constrain’d to love thee. Though thy clime
Read Poem My country! and while yet a nook is left
Where English minds and manners may be found,
Shall be constrain’d to love thee. Though thy clime
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from Oracles for Youth by Caroline Gilman
![Caroline Gilman](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_uuUIRqw6Sd485JaNJpqWZvFZoyKfOxVv8JxgCfw5.jpeg)
Directions
Let some one hold the book, and ask one of the questions. The answers being all numbered, the girl or boy who is questioned chooses a number, and the person who holds the book reads the answer to which that number belongs, aloud. For instance:
Question. What is your character?
Answer. I choose No. 3
Questioner reads aloud:
No. 3. Gentle tempered, sweet and kind,
To no angry word inclined.
What Will Be Your Destiny?
FORTY-THREE ANSWERS
1. Just as you think you’ve gained great wealth,
Read Poem Let some one hold the book, and ask one of the questions. The answers being all numbered, the girl or boy who is questioned chooses a number, and the person who holds the book reads the answer to which that number belongs, aloud. For instance:
Question. What is your character?
Answer. I choose No. 3
Questioner reads aloud:
No. 3. Gentle tempered, sweet and kind,
To no angry word inclined.
What Will Be Your Destiny?
FORTY-THREE ANSWERS
1. Just as you think you’ve gained great wealth,
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The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll
![Lewis Carroll](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_Gs7M7PsJ3LiISBXBwEChw19sFeaNqa2dTSGqa5sn.jpeg)
Fit the First
The Landing
"Just the place for a Snark!" the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.
"Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Read Poem The Landing
"Just the place for a Snark!" the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.
"Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
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Soliloquy on an Empty Purse by Mary Jones
![Mary Jones](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_7b5991bf66fe96f148c82001ea4392bb.jpg)
Alas, my Purse! how lean and low!
My silken Purse! what art thou now!
One I beheld—but stocks will fall—
When both thy ends had wherewithal.
When I within thy slender fence
My fortune placed, and confidence;
A poet’s fortune!—not immense:
Yet, mixed with keys, and coins among,
Read Poem My silken Purse! what art thou now!
One I beheld—but stocks will fall—
When both thy ends had wherewithal.
When I within thy slender fence
My fortune placed, and confidence;
A poet’s fortune!—not immense:
Yet, mixed with keys, and coins among,
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Away to Canada by Joshua McCarter Simpson
![Joshua McCarter Simpson](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
Adapted to the case of Mr. S.,
Fugitive from Tennessee.
I’m on my way to Canada,
That cold and dreary land;
The dire effects of slavery,
I can no longer stand.
My soul is vexed within me so,
To think that I’m a slave;
I’ve now resolved to strike the blow
For freedom or the grave.
O righteous Father,
Wilt thou not pity me?
And aid me on to Canada,
Read Poem Fugitive from Tennessee.
I’m on my way to Canada,
That cold and dreary land;
The dire effects of slavery,
I can no longer stand.
My soul is vexed within me so,
To think that I’m a slave;
I’ve now resolved to strike the blow
For freedom or the grave.
O righteous Father,
Wilt thou not pity me?
And aid me on to Canada,
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Itinerary by James McMichael
![James McMichael](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
The farmhouses north of Driggs,
silos for miles along the road saying
BUTLER or SIOUX. The light saying
rain coming on, the wind not up yet,
animals waiting as the front hits
everything on the high fiats, hailstones
bouncing like rabbits under the sage.
Nothing running off. Creeks clear.
Read Poem silos for miles along the road saying
BUTLER or SIOUX. The light saying
rain coming on, the wind not up yet,
animals waiting as the front hits
everything on the high fiats, hailstones
bouncing like rabbits under the sage.
Nothing running off. Creeks clear.
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The Mother’s Return by Dorothy Wordsworth
![Dorothy Wordsworth](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_VS2Hsj550BK2vdsp4CMUW7EMYbKTxfDvznDX5Xef.jpeg)
A month, sweet Little-ones, is past
Since your dear Mother went away,
And she tomorrow will return;
Tomorrow is the happy day.
O blessed tidings! thoughts of joy!
The eldest heard with steady glee;
Silent he stood; then laughed amain,
And shouted, ‘Mother, come to me!’
Louder and louder did he shout,
With witless hope to bring her near!
‘Nay, patience! patience, little boy;
Your tender mother cannot hear.’
Read Poem Since your dear Mother went away,
And she tomorrow will return;
Tomorrow is the happy day.
O blessed tidings! thoughts of joy!
The eldest heard with steady glee;
Silent he stood; then laughed amain,
And shouted, ‘Mother, come to me!’
Louder and louder did he shout,
With witless hope to bring her near!
‘Nay, patience! patience, little boy;
Your tender mother cannot hear.’
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The Third Hour of the Night by Frank Bidart
![Frank Bidart](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_OXqoAK0ludhaqL80Fr6VDkmc0jp42whBSdbDOiLW.jpeg)
When the eye
When the edgeless screen receiving
light from the edgeless universe
When the eye first
When the edgeless screen facing
outward as if hypnotized by the edgeless universe
When the eye first saw that it
Hungry for more light
Read Poem When the edgeless screen receiving
light from the edgeless universe
When the eye first
When the edgeless screen facing
outward as if hypnotized by the edgeless universe
When the eye first saw that it
Hungry for more light
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a 340 dollar horse and a hundred dollar whore by Charles Bukowski
![Charles Bukowski](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_qJmw9WnRMUI8tHJP91dutf2jsF6nOx6PtQ1gHpId.jpeg)
don’t ever get the idea I am a poet; you can see me
at the racetrack any day half drunk
betting quarters, sidewheelers and straight thoroughs,
but let me tell you, there are some women there
who go where the money goes, and sometimes when you
look at these whores these onehundreddollar whores
you wonder sometimes if nature isn’t playing a joke
dealing out so much breast and ass and the way
Read Poem at the racetrack any day half drunk
betting quarters, sidewheelers and straight thoroughs,
but let me tell you, there are some women there
who go where the money goes, and sometimes when you
look at these whores these onehundreddollar whores
you wonder sometimes if nature isn’t playing a joke
dealing out so much breast and ass and the way
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About My Very Tortured Friend, Peter by Charles Bukowski
![Charles Bukowski](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_qJmw9WnRMUI8tHJP91dutf2jsF6nOx6PtQ1gHpId.jpeg)
he lives in a house with a swimming pool
and says the job is
killing him.
he is 27. I am 44. I can’t seem to
get rid of
him. his novels keep coming
back. “what do you expect me to do?” he screams
“go to New York and pump the hands of the
Read Poem and says the job is
killing him.
he is 27. I am 44. I can’t seem to
get rid of
him. his novels keep coming
back. “what do you expect me to do?” he screams
“go to New York and pump the hands of the
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Aubade by Philip Larkin
![Philip Larkin](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_B653uFfDuwSs29QvycZUDxouGbHZgHx95q2VCEKJ.jpeg)
I work all day, and get half-drunk at night.
Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare.
In time the curtain-edges will grow light.
Till then I see what’s really always there:
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now,
Making all thought impossible but how
And where and when I shall myself die.
Arid interrogation: yet the dread
Read Poem Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare.
In time the curtain-edges will grow light.
Till then I see what’s really always there:
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now,
Making all thought impossible but how
And where and when I shall myself die.
Arid interrogation: yet the dread
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Brief reflection on an old woman with a barrow by Miroslav Holub
![Miroslav Holub](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_7c4bjiMVYoHIelCz2vrqp4poqmz2dUNQx2BRtKc5.jpeg)
Given an old woman and given a barrow.
I.e. the system old woman O and barrow B.
The system is moving from the paved yard Y to the corner C,
from the corner C to the Stone S, from the stone S
to the forest F, from the forest F to the horizon H.
The horizon H is the point where vision ends
and memory begins.
Nevertheless the system is moving
Read Poem I.e. the system old woman O and barrow B.
The system is moving from the paved yard Y to the corner C,
from the corner C to the Stone S, from the stone S
to the forest F, from the forest F to the horizon H.
The horizon H is the point where vision ends
and memory begins.
Nevertheless the system is moving
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A Hymn to the Name and Honour of the Admirable Saint Teresa by Richard Crashaw
![Richard Crashaw](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
Love, thou are absolute sole lord
Of life and death. To prove the word,
We’ll now appeal to none of all
Those thy old soldiers, great and tall,
Ripe men of martyrdom, that could reach down
With strong arms their triumphant crown;
Such as could with lusty breath
Speak loud into the face of death
Read Poem Of life and death. To prove the word,
We’ll now appeal to none of all
Those thy old soldiers, great and tall,
Ripe men of martyrdom, that could reach down
With strong arms their triumphant crown;
Such as could with lusty breath
Speak loud into the face of death
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One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
![Elizabeth Bishop](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_YwG70kIi6MHq1aZNJf4Yr3SfSfJ7frigsEVBV5QS.jpeg)
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
Read Poem so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
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The Passionate Man’s Pilgrimage by Sir Walter Ralegh
![Sir Walter Ralegh](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_ysa42k6uCStywUsr6bW495yp1NQFeCwiwLqcyyFB.jpeg)
[Supposed to be written by one at the point of death] Give me my scallop shell of quiet,
My staff of faith to walk upon,
My scrip of joy, immortal diet,
My bottle of salvation,
Read Poem My staff of faith to walk upon,
My scrip of joy, immortal diet,
My bottle of salvation,
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Planetarium by Adrienne Rich
![Adrienne Rich](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_D7IAhVYDQUBpZu3RAoFDN7ELCU3RPz5xqjhpREiv.jpeg)
Thinking of Caroline Herschel (1750—1848)
astronomer, sister of William; and others. A woman in the shape of a monster
a monster in the shape of a woman
Read Poem astronomer, sister of William; and others. A woman in the shape of a monster
a monster in the shape of a woman
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The Retreat by Henry Vaughan
![Henry Vaughan](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
Happy those early days! when I
Shined in my angel infancy.
Before I understood this place
Appointed for my second race,
Or taught my soul to fancy aught
But a white, celestial thought;
When yet I had not walked above
A mile or two from my first love,
And looking back, at that short space,
Could see a glimpse of His bright face;
When on some gilded cloud or flower
My gazing soul would dwell an hour,
And in those weaker glories spy
Some shadows of eternity;
Before I taught my tongue to wound
Read Poem Shined in my angel infancy.
Before I understood this place
Appointed for my second race,
Or taught my soul to fancy aught
But a white, celestial thought;
When yet I had not walked above
A mile or two from my first love,
And looking back, at that short space,
Could see a glimpse of His bright face;
When on some gilded cloud or flower
My gazing soul would dwell an hour,
And in those weaker glories spy
Some shadows of eternity;
Before I taught my tongue to wound
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The Song of the Banjo by Rudyard Kipling
![Rudyard Kipling](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_fIjk0t4fdlZ74m8DHyM0H63XeHIlEhdprJ039MUL.jpeg)
1894 You couldn’t pack a Broadwood half a mile—
You mustn’t leave a fiddle in the damp—
Read Poem You mustn’t leave a fiddle in the damp—
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Song of the Open Road by Walt Whitman
![Walt Whitman](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_2yX7sNb9808cXF7Lp8z5McdI5cLMoR4h7rkC2wEn.jpeg)
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Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.
Read Poem Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.
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To His Mistress by John Wilmot Earl of Rochester
![John Wilmot Earl of Rochester](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_AcnTE5PGYcujVCIkenYXopVAihzDFSuXEuozGxE2.jpeg)
Why dost thou shade thy lovely face? O why
Does that eclipsing hand of thine deny
The sunshine of the Sun’s enlivening eye?
Without thy light what light remains in me?
Thou art my life; my way, my light’s in thee;
I live, I move, and by thy beams I see.
Read Poem Does that eclipsing hand of thine deny
The sunshine of the Sun’s enlivening eye?
Without thy light what light remains in me?
Thou art my life; my way, my light’s in thee;
I live, I move, and by thy beams I see.
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Agoraphobia by Linda Pastan
![Linda Pastan](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_0qcgluU42GokPQOtwkhj1JVixU0uUKZrfxFqa4M4.jpeg)
"Yesterday the bird of night did sit,
Even at noon-day, upon the marketplace,
Hooting and shrieking."
—William Shakespeare
Read Poem Even at noon-day, upon the marketplace,
Hooting and shrieking."
—William Shakespeare
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Consolation by Robert Louis Stevenson
![Robert Louis Stevenson](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_La86Mz4f5C4XWqMwgk5FlBjWEpmnt0GiQ7HhCVDn.jpeg)
Though he, that ever kind and true,
Kept stoutly step by step with you,
Your whole long, gusty lifetime through,
Be gone a while before,
Be now a moment gone before,
Yet, doubt not, soon the seasons shall restore
Your friend to you.
Read Poem Kept stoutly step by step with you,
Your whole long, gusty lifetime through,
Be gone a while before,
Be now a moment gone before,
Yet, doubt not, soon the seasons shall restore
Your friend to you.
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The Heart and Service by Sir Thomas Wyatt
![Sir Thomas Wyatt](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_u7yBliiEQfbJpC1plthI0eYjP0nV93KlfQScO3Gb.jpeg)
The heart and service to you proffer'd
With right good will full honestly,
Refuse it not, since it is offer'd,
But take it to you gentlely.
And though it be a small present,
Yet good, consider graciously
The thought, the mind, and the intent
Read Poem With right good will full honestly,
Refuse it not, since it is offer'd,
But take it to you gentlely.
And though it be a small present,
Yet good, consider graciously
The thought, the mind, and the intent
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Holy Sonnets: Show me dear Christ, thy spouse so bright and clear by John Donne
![John Donne](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_A6VosKanZ8QWBTOFiOrIqcqUt5dVhUc2YR40tS9E.jpeg)
Show me dear Christ, thy spouse so bright and clear.
What! is it she which on the other shore
Goes richly painted? or which, robb'd and tore,
Laments and mourns in Germany and here?
Sleeps she a thousand, then peeps up one year?
Is she self-truth, and errs? now new, now outwore?
Doth she, and did she, and shall she evermore
On one, on seven, or on no hill appear?
Dwells she with us, or like adventuring knights
First travel we to seek, and then make love?
Betray, kind husband, thy spouse to our sights,
And let mine amorous soul court thy mild Dove,
Who is most true and pleasing to thee then
When she'is embrac'd and open to most men.
Read Poem What! is it she which on the other shore
Goes richly painted? or which, robb'd and tore,
Laments and mourns in Germany and here?
Sleeps she a thousand, then peeps up one year?
Is she self-truth, and errs? now new, now outwore?
Doth she, and did she, and shall she evermore
On one, on seven, or on no hill appear?
Dwells she with us, or like adventuring knights
First travel we to seek, and then make love?
Betray, kind husband, thy spouse to our sights,
And let mine amorous soul court thy mild Dove,
Who is most true and pleasing to thee then
When she'is embrac'd and open to most men.
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Imitations of Horace by Alexander Pope
![Alexander Pope](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_VjQi1inzhQEpciOEFEt0308vRfaqnaD4Y400PNV8.jpeg)
Ne Rubeam, Pingui donatus Munere
(Horace, Epistles II.i.267)
While you, great patron of mankind, sustain
The balanc'd world, and open all the main;
Your country, chief, in arms abroad defend,
At home, with morals, arts, and laws amend;
Read Poem (Horace, Epistles II.i.267)
While you, great patron of mankind, sustain
The balanc'd world, and open all the main;
Your country, chief, in arms abroad defend,
At home, with morals, arts, and laws amend;
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Internal Migration: On Being on Tour by Alan Dugan
![Alan Dugan](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_M4ACSD5reHh3tPkuPpR5dcazpSi0vloC1FLUJkTf.jpeg)
As an American traveler I have
to remember not to get actionably mad
about the way things are around here.
Tomorrow I’ll be a thousand miles away
from the way it is around here. I will
keep my temper, I will not kill the dog
next door, nor will I kill the next-door wife,
both of whom are crazy and aggressive
Read Poem to remember not to get actionably mad
about the way things are around here.
Tomorrow I’ll be a thousand miles away
from the way it is around here. I will
keep my temper, I will not kill the dog
next door, nor will I kill the next-door wife,
both of whom are crazy and aggressive
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London, 1802 by William Wordsworth
![William Wordsworth](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_dc77Y4C4TW1uMEpA2Uy58EWxXIseXTLyLcouDoLJ.jpeg)
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart:
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
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The Luggage by Constance Urdang
![Constance Urdang](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
Travel is a vanishing act
Only to those who are left behind.
What the traveler knows
Is that he accompanies himself,
Unwieldy baggage that can’t be checked,
Stolen, or lost, or mistaken.
So one took, past outposts of empire,
“Calmly as if in the British Museum,”
Read Poem Only to those who are left behind.
What the traveler knows
Is that he accompanies himself,
Unwieldy baggage that can’t be checked,
Stolen, or lost, or mistaken.
So one took, past outposts of empire,
“Calmly as if in the British Museum,”
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Octaves by Edwin Arlington Robinson
![Edwin Arlington Robinson](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_GgwFdslKZpC17mRiqQVRmvuKP8lvKpEpG6RqHHId.jpeg)
I
We thrill too strangely at the master's touch;
We shrink too sadly from the larger self
Which for its own completeness agitates
And undetermines us; we do not feel—
We dare not feel it yet—the splendid shame
Of uncreated failure; we forget,
The while we groan, that God's accomplishment
Read Poem We thrill too strangely at the master's touch;
We shrink too sadly from the larger self
Which for its own completeness agitates
And undetermines us; we do not feel—
We dare not feel it yet—the splendid shame
Of uncreated failure; we forget,
The while we groan, that God's accomplishment
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Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood by William Wordsworth
![William Wordsworth](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_dc77Y4C4TW1uMEpA2Uy58EWxXIseXTLyLcouDoLJ.jpeg)
The child is father of the man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
(Wordsworth, "My Heart Leaps Up")
Read Poem And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
(Wordsworth, "My Heart Leaps Up")
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The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
![Robert Frost](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_htc3wjaKrdEKxzF0w7Zh5E3uNgyqeBW7IkLxi7Do.jpeg)
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Read Poem And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
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The Seafarer by Ezra Pound
![Ezra Pound](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_cN96DibdJxXbV1qhJzIt9btnR9sKiIGr2gGFdtLm.jpeg)
May I for my own self song’s truth reckon,
Journey’s jargon, how I in harsh days
Hardship endured oft.
Bitter breast-cares have I abided,
Known on my keel many a care’s hold,
And dire sea-surge, and there I oft spent
Narrow nightwatch nigh the ship’s head
While she tossed close to cliffs. Coldly afflicted,
Read Poem Journey’s jargon, how I in harsh days
Hardship endured oft.
Bitter breast-cares have I abided,
Known on my keel many a care’s hold,
And dire sea-surge, and there I oft spent
Narrow nightwatch nigh the ship’s head
While she tossed close to cliffs. Coldly afflicted,
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Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
![Alfred, Lord Tennyson](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_yFq4gHV5lwFOryeQjrkj818WfvusALzybK4qWfvR.jpeg)
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;
Read Poem By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;
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Biography for the Use of Birds by Jorge Carrera Andrade
![Jorge Carrera Andrade](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
I was born in the century of the death of the rose
when the motor had already driven out the angels.
Quito watched as the last stagecoach rolled away,
and at its passing the trees ran past in perfect order,
and also the hedges and houses of new parishes,
at the threshold of the countryside
where cows were slowly chewing silence
as wind spurred on its swift horses.
Read Poem when the motor had already driven out the angels.
Quito watched as the last stagecoach rolled away,
and at its passing the trees ran past in perfect order,
and also the hedges and houses of new parishes,
at the threshold of the countryside
where cows were slowly chewing silence
as wind spurred on its swift horses.
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