Poetry
Details in ‘How Are You Doing’ is art
One of the ways a poet makes art from his or her experience is through the use of unique, specific and particular detail. This poem by Rick Snyder thrives on such details. It’s not just baseball ...
One of the ways a poet makes art from his or her experience is through the use of unique, specific and particular detail. This poem by Rick Snyder thrives on such details. It’s not just baseball ...
7 months ago | 0 
| 6 
| 
full story
| 6 |
‘New Water’ adds to life’s sweetness
My maternal grandparents got their drinking water from a well in the yard, and my disabled uncle carried it sloshing to the house, one bucket of hard red water early every morning. I couldn’t res...
My maternal grandparents got their drinking water from a well in the yard, and my disabled uncle carried it sloshing to the house, one bucket of hard red water early every morning. I couldn’t res...
8 months ago | 0 | 5 |
full story
| 5 |
Parent/child relationship in ‘Somebody Else’s Baby’
Though parents know that their children will grow up and away from them, will love and be loved by others, it’s a difficult thing to accept. Massachusetts poet Mary Jo Salter emphasizes the poign...
Though parents know that their children will grow up and away from them, will love and be loved by others, it’s a difficult thing to accept. Massachusetts poet Mary Jo Salter emphasizes the poign...
8 months ago | 0 | 7 |
full story
| 7 |
Character shines in ‘Kissing a Horse’
A horse’s head is big, and the closer you get to it, the bigger it gets. Here is the Idaho poet, Robert Wrigley, offering us a horse’s head, up close, and covering a horse’s character, too. Kissi...
A horse’s head is big, and the closer you get to it, the bigger it gets. Here is the Idaho poet, Robert Wrigley, offering us a horse’s head, up close, and covering a horse’s character, too. Kissi...
8 months ago | 0 | 6 |
full story
| 6 |
Lasting presence of deep loss in
‘For Weeks After the Funeral’
Grief can endure a long, long time. A deep loss is very reluctant to let us set it aside, to push it into a corner of memory. Here the Arkansas poet, Andrea Hollander Budy, gives us a look at one...
Grief can endure a long, long time. A deep loss is very reluctant to let us set it aside, to push it into a corner of memory. Here the Arkansas poet, Andrea Hollander Budy, gives us a look at one...
8 months ago | 0 | 6 |
full story
| 6 |
‘Silent Music’ flows despite traditional meter and rhyme
While many of the poems we feature in this column are written in open forms, that’s not to say I don’t respect good writing done in traditional meter and rhyme. But a number of contemporary poets,...
While many of the poems we feature in this column are written in open forms, that’s not to say I don’t respect good writing done in traditional meter and rhyme. But a number of contemporary poets,...
9 months ago | 0 | 8 |
full story
| 8 |
‘Home Fire’ shows comforts of being yourself while at home
Home is where the heart. . . Well, surely we all know that old saying. But it’s the particulars of a home that make it ours. Here the poet Linda Parsons Marion, who lives in Knoxville, Tenn., cele...
Home is where the heart. . . Well, surely we all know that old saying. But it’s the particulars of a home that make it ours. Here the poet Linda Parsons Marion, who lives in Knoxville, Tenn., cele...
10 months ago | 0 | 8 |
full story
| 8 |
‘Driving Through’ shows the familiarity small towns bring
How many of us, when passing through some small town, have felt that it seemed familiar though we’ve never been there before. And of course it seems familiar because much of the course of life is...
How many of us, when passing through some small town, have felt that it seemed familiar though we’ve never been there before. And of course it seems familiar because much of the course of life is...
11 months ago | 0 | 9 |
full story
| 9 |
‘Bread Soup’ turned into practical poem
Anyone can write a poem that nobody can understand, but poetry is a means of communication, and this column specializes in poems that communicate. What comes more naturally to us than to instruct...
Anyone can write a poem that nobody can understand, but poetry is a means of communication, and this column specializes in poems that communicate. What comes more naturally to us than to instruct...
11 months ago | 0 | 9 |
full story
| 9 |
Loss, defeat in ‘No Children, No Pets’
Loss can defeat us or serve as the impetus for positive change. Here, Sue Ellen Thompson of Connecticut shows us how to mourn inevitable changes, tuck the memories away, then go on to see the pos...
Loss can defeat us or serve as the impetus for positive change. Here, Sue Ellen Thompson of Connecticut shows us how to mourn inevitable changes, tuck the memories away, then go on to see the pos...
11 months ago | 0 | 12 |
full story
| 12 |
As birds pass by, so does another year in ‘The Birds’
Linda Pastan, who lives in Maryland, is a master of the kind of water-clear writing that enables us to see into the depths. This is a poem about migrating birds, but also about how it feels to wi...
Linda Pastan, who lives in Maryland, is a master of the kind of water-clear writing that enables us to see into the depths. This is a poem about migrating birds, but also about how it feels to wi...
11 months ago | 0 | 9 |
full story
| 9 |
Life is full of quiet celebrations
The Illinois poet, Lisel Mueller, is one of our country’s finest writers, and the following lines, with their grace and humility, are representative of her poems of quiet celebration. In November ...
The Illinois poet, Lisel Mueller, is one of our country’s finest writers, and the following lines, with their grace and humility, are representative of her poems of quiet celebration. In November ...
12 months ago | 0 | 11 |
full story
| 11 |
Businessman, father turns into rock star
This wistful poem shows how the familiar and the odd, the real and imaginary, exist side by side. A Midwestern father transforms himself from a staid businessman into a rock-n-roll star, reclaimi...
This wistful poem shows how the familiar and the odd, the real and imaginary, exist side by side. A Midwestern father transforms himself from a staid businessman into a rock-n-roll star, reclaimi...
12 months ago | 0 | 11 |
full story
| 11 |
Neighbor envies older couple in ‘Raking’
The first poem we ran in this column was by David Allan Evans of South Dakota, about a couple washing windows together. You can find that poem and all the others on our Web site, www.americanlife...
The first poem we ran in this column was by David Allan Evans of South Dakota, about a couple washing windows together. You can find that poem and all the others on our Web site, www.americanlife...
13 months ago | 0 | 10 |
full story
| 10 |
Amaryllis takes on human qualities with transformation
Many of this column’s readers have watched an amaryllis emerge from its hard bulb to flower. To me they seem unworldly, perhaps a little dangerous, like a wild bird you don’t want to get too clos...
Many of this column’s readers have watched an amaryllis emerge from its hard bulb to flower. To me they seem unworldly, perhaps a little dangerous, like a wild bird you don’t want to get too clos...
13 months ago | 0 | 11 |
full story
| 11 |
‘Green Tea’ holds no secret meaning
Poems of simple pleasure, poems of quiet celebration, well, they aren’t anything like those poems we were asked to wrestle with in high school, our teachers insisting that we get a headlock on T...
Poems of simple pleasure, poems of quiet celebration, well, they aren’t anything like those poems we were asked to wrestle with in high school, our teachers insisting that we get a headlock on T...
13 months ago | 0 | 11 |
full story
| 11 |
‘Clean’ shows parenting has fearful moments and joy
Many poems celebrate the joys of having children. Michigan poet Jeff Vande Zande reminds us that adults make mistakes, even with children they love, and that parenting is about fear as well as jo...
Many poems celebrate the joys of having children. Michigan poet Jeff Vande Zande reminds us that adults make mistakes, even with children they love, and that parenting is about fear as well as jo...
13 months ago | 0 | 18 |
full story
| 18 |
Common turns into extraordinary in poem
Readers of this column during the past year have by now learned how enthusiastic I am about poems describing everyday life. I’ve tried to show how the ordinary can be made extraordinary through c...
Readers of this column during the past year have by now learned how enthusiastic I am about poems describing everyday life. I’ve tried to show how the ordinary can be made extraordinary through c...
14 months ago | 0 | 23 |
full story
| 23 |
Reflections of a neighbor in ‘Elegy for an Old Boxer’
One of poetry’s traditional public services is the presentation of elegies in honor of the dead. Here James McKean remembers a colorful friend and neighbor. Elegy for an Old Boxer From my window ...
One of poetry’s traditional public services is the presentation of elegies in honor of the dead. Here James McKean remembers a colorful friend and neighbor. Elegy for an Old Boxer From my window ...
14 months ago | 0 | 16 |
full story
| 16 |
Interpretation of Hurricane Katrina victims
The news coverage of Hurricane Katrina gave America a vivid look at our poor and powerless neighbors. Here Alex Phillips of Massachusetts condenses his observations of our country’s underclass int...
The news coverage of Hurricane Katrina gave America a vivid look at our poor and powerless neighbors. Here Alex Phillips of Massachusetts condenses his observations of our country’s underclass int...
14 months ago | 0 | 21 |
full story
| 21 |
Nature inspires poet in ‘Moss’
Mothers and fathers grow accustomed to being asked by young children, “What’s that?” Thus parents relearn the world by having to explain things they haven’t thought about in years. In this poem th...
Mothers and fathers grow accustomed to being asked by young children, “What’s that?” Thus parents relearn the world by having to explain things they haven’t thought about in years. In this poem th...
14 months ago | 0 | 20 |
full story
| 20 |
Poet observes strangers and imagines their lives
In many American poems, the poet makes a personal appearance and offers us a revealing monologue from center stage, but there are lots of fine poems in which the poet, a stranger in a strange plac...
In many American poems, the poet makes a personal appearance and offers us a revealing monologue from center stage, but there are lots of fine poems in which the poet, a stranger in a strange plac...
15 months ago | 0 | 32 |
full story
| 32 |
Long walks take on healing nature for a grieving man
Of taking long walks it has been said that a person can walk off anything. Here David Mason hikes a mountain in his home state, Colorado, and steps away from an undisclosed personal loss into anot...
Of taking long walks it has been said that a person can walk off anything. Here David Mason hikes a mountain in his home state, Colorado, and steps away from an undisclosed personal loss into anot...
15 months ago | 0 | 26 |
full story
| 26 |
Another tree lies beneath in ‘Planting a Dogwood’
Those of us who have planted trees and shrubs know well that moment when the last spade full of earth is packed around the root ball and patted or stamped into place and we stand back and wish the...
Those of us who have planted trees and shrubs know well that moment when the last spade full of earth is packed around the root ball and patted or stamped into place and we stand back and wish the...
15 months ago | 0 | 28 |
full story
| 28 |
Work through the eyes of a Great Depression survivor
Those who survived the Great Depression of the 1930s have a tough, no-nonsense take on what work is. If when I was young I’d told my father I was looking for fulfilling work, he would have looked ...
Those who survived the Great Depression of the 1930s have a tough, no-nonsense take on what work is. If when I was young I’d told my father I was looking for fulfilling work, he would have looked ...
15 months ago | 0 | 33 |
full story
| 33 |
Bright colors and sweet smells paint picture of ‘August Morning’
William Carlos Williams, one of our country’s most influential poets and a New Jersey physician, taught us to celebrate daily life. Here Albert Garcia offers us the simple pleasures and modest mys...
William Carlos Williams, one of our country’s most influential poets and a New Jersey physician, taught us to celebrate daily life. Here Albert Garcia offers us the simple pleasures and modest mys...
16 months ago | 0 | 35 |
full story
| 35 |
Mother fears son growing up in poem ‘My Son the Man’
As a man I’ll never gain the wisdom Sharon Olds expresses in this poem about motherhood, but one of the reasons poetry is essential is that it can take us so far into someone else’s experience tha...
As a man I’ll never gain the wisdom Sharon Olds expresses in this poem about motherhood, but one of the reasons poetry is essential is that it can take us so far into someone else’s experience tha...
16 months ago | 0 | 35 |
full story
| 35 |
‘Ironing After Midnight’ has intimate meaning
This marvelous poem by the California poet Marsha Truman Cooper perfectly captures the world of ironing, complete with its intimacy. At the end, doing a job to perfection, pressing the perfect edg...
This marvelous poem by the California poet Marsha Truman Cooper perfectly captures the world of ironing, complete with its intimacy. At the end, doing a job to perfection, pressing the perfect edg...
17 months ago | 0 | 40 |
full story
| 40 |
‘Family Reunion’ takes somber tone after family member’s death
One in a series of elegies by New York City poet Catherine Barnett, this poem describes the first gathering after death has shaken a family to its core. The father tries to help his grown daughter...
One in a series of elegies by New York City poet Catherine Barnett, this poem describes the first gathering after death has shaken a family to its core. The father tries to help his grown daughter...
17 months ago | 0 | 32 |
full story
| 32 |
Small unpredictable moment in long, comfortable marriage
U.S. POET LAUREATE , 2004-2006
U.S. POET LAUREATE , 2004-2006
17 months ago | 0 | 38 |
full story
| 38 |
Time stands still in poem about life's small pleasures
by Ted Kooser U.S. POET LAUREATE , 2004-2006 Some of the most telling poetry being written in our country today has to do with the smallest and briefest of pleasures. Here Marie Howe of New Yor...
by Ted Kooser U.S. POET LAUREATE , 2004-2006 Some of the most telling poetry being written in our country today has to do with the smallest and briefest of pleasures. Here Marie Howe of New Yor...
17 months ago | 0 | 38 |
full story
| 38 |
Silence can be deafening after return from a long absence
by Ted Kooser U.S. POET LAUREATE , 2004-2006 Visiting a familiar and once dear place after a long absence can knock the words right out of us, and in this poem, Keith Althaus of Massachusetts o...
by Ted Kooser U.S. POET LAUREATE , 2004-2006 Visiting a familiar and once dear place after a long absence can knock the words right out of us, and in this poem, Keith Althaus of Massachusetts o...
17 months ago | 0 | 37 |
full story
| 37 |
Grandmother’s haunting tale becomes poetry
Storytelling binds the past and present together, and is as essential to community life as are food and shelter. Many of our poets are masters at reshaping family stories as poetry. Here Lola Hask...
Storytelling binds the past and present together, and is as essential to community life as are food and shelter. Many of our poets are masters at reshaping family stories as poetry. Here Lola Hask...
18 months ago | 0 | 38 |
full story
| 38 |
Quiet moments evident in ‘The Dancer’
Remember those Degas paintings of the ballet dancers? Here is a similar figure study, in muted color, but in this instance made of words, not pigment. As this poem by David Tucker closes, I can fe...
Remember those Degas paintings of the ballet dancers? Here is a similar figure study, in muted color, but in this instance made of words, not pigment. As this poem by David Tucker closes, I can fe...
18 months ago | 0 | 31 |
full story
| 31 |
The constant struggle with weeds
Gardeners who’ve fought Creeping Charlie and other unwanted plants may sympathize with James McKean from Iowa as he takes on Bindweed, a cousin to the two varieties of morning glory that appear in...
Gardeners who’ve fought Creeping Charlie and other unwanted plants may sympathize with James McKean from Iowa as he takes on Bindweed, a cousin to the two varieties of morning glory that appear in...
18 months ago | 0 | 27 |
full story
| 27 |
Thoughts of a poet
Everywhere I travel I meet people who want to write poetry but worry that what they write won’t be “any good.” No one can judge the worth of a poem before it’s been written, and setting high stand...
Everywhere I travel I meet people who want to write poetry but worry that what they write won’t be “any good.” No one can judge the worth of a poem before it’s been written, and setting high stand...
19 months ago | 0 | 22 |
full story
| 22 |
Daughter takes after mother’s example
Most of us have taken at least a moment or two to reflect upon what we have learned from our mothers. Through a catalog of meaningful actions that range from spiritual to domestic, Pennsylvanian J...
Most of us have taken at least a moment or two to reflect upon what we have learned from our mothers. Through a catalog of meaningful actions that range from spiritual to domestic, Pennsylvanian J...
19 months ago | 0 | 18 |
full story
| 18 |
Ordinary garden pleasures filled with color in ‘A Pot of Red Lentils’
Writing poetry, reading poetry, we are invited to join with others in celebrating life, even the ordinary, daily pleasures. Here the Seattle poet and physician, Peter Pereira, offer us a simple me...
Writing poetry, reading poetry, we are invited to join with others in celebrating life, even the ordinary, daily pleasures. Here the Seattle poet and physician, Peter Pereira, offer us a simple me...
19 months ago | 0 | 18 |
full story
| 18 |
‘Morel Mushrooms’ captures its elusive ways
Those of us who have hunted morel mushrooms in the early spring have hunted indeed. The morel is among nature’s most elusive species. Here Jane Whitledge of Minnesota captures the morel’s mysterio...
Those of us who have hunted morel mushrooms in the early spring have hunted indeed. The morel is among nature’s most elusive species. Here Jane Whitledge of Minnesota captures the morel’s mysterio...
19 months ago | 0 | 15 |
full story
| 15 |
Under imperfect lawns lie numerous hidden surprises
Thousands of Americans fret over the appearance of their lawns, spraying, aerating, grooming, but here Grace Bauer finds good reasons to resist the impulse to tame what’s wild: the white of clover...
Thousands of Americans fret over the appearance of their lawns, spraying, aerating, grooming, but here Grace Bauer finds good reasons to resist the impulse to tame what’s wild: the white of clover...
20 months ago | 0 | 7 |
full story
| 7 |
‘At Twenty-Eight’ shows blunt truths of being a single woman
Contrary to the glamorized accounts we often read about the lives of single women, Amy Fleury, a native of Kansas, presents us with a realistic, affirmative picture. Her poem playfully presents he...
Contrary to the glamorized accounts we often read about the lives of single women, Amy Fleury, a native of Kansas, presents us with a realistic, affirmative picture. Her poem playfully presents he...
20 months ago | 0 | 8 |
full story
| 8 |
Poem compares natural wildness of dogs and boys
This fine poem by Rodney Torreson, of Grand Rapids, Mich., looks into the world of boys arriving at the edge of manhood, and compares their natural wildness to that of dogs, with whom they feel a ...
This fine poem by Rodney Torreson, of Grand Rapids, Mich., looks into the world of boys arriving at the edge of manhood, and compares their natural wildness to that of dogs, with whom they feel a ...
22 months ago | 0 | 7 |
full story
| 7 |
Southern folklore comes to life in poem dealing with colorful language
The poet, novelist and biographer, Robert Morgan, who was raised in North Carolina, has written many intriguing poems that teach his readers about southern folklore. Here’s just one example. Holy...
The poet, novelist and biographer, Robert Morgan, who was raised in North Carolina, has written many intriguing poems that teach his readers about southern folklore. Here’s just one example. Holy...
22 months ago | 0 | 6 |
full story
| 6 |
Part of raising children is letting go
From Michigan our son writes, How many elk? How many big horn sheep? It’s spring, and soon they’ll be gone above timberline, climbing to tundra by summer. Some boys are born to wander...
From Michigan our son writes, How many elk? How many big horn sheep? It’s spring, and soon they’ll be gone above timberline, climbing to tundra by summer. Some boys are born to wander...
22 months ago | 0 | 6 |
full story
| 6 |
‘To Play Pianissimo’ exudes softness with comparisons
Lola Haskins, who lives in Florida, has written a number of poems about musical terms, entitled “Adagio,” “Allegrissimo,” “Staccato,” and so on. Here is just one of those, presenting the gentlenes...
Lola Haskins, who lives in Florida, has written a number of poems about musical terms, entitled “Adagio,” “Allegrissimo,” “Staccato,” and so on. Here is just one of those, presenting the gentlenes...
24 months ago | 0 | 7 |
full story
| 7 |
Trips to the mailbox become simple pleasures in winter
Here is a poem by David Bengtson, a Minnesotan, about the simple pleasure of walking through deep snow to the mailbox to see what’s arrived. But, of course, the pleasure is not only in picking up ...
Here is a poem by David Bengtson, a Minnesotan, about the simple pleasure of walking through deep snow to the mailbox to see what’s arrived. But, of course, the pleasure is not only in picking up ...
24 months ago | 0 | 7 |
full story
| 7 |
Family photos paint a thousand words
Those photos in family albums, what do they show us about the lives of people, and what don’t they tell? What are they holding back? Here Diane Thiel, who teaches in New Mexico, peers into one of ...
Those photos in family albums, what do they show us about the lives of people, and what don’t they tell? What are they holding back? Here Diane Thiel, who teaches in New Mexico, peers into one of ...
2 years ago | 0 | 6 |
full story
| 6 |
Simplicity stands out in ‘A Yellow Leaf’ poem
Arizonan Alberto Rios probably observed this shamel ash often, its year-round green leaves never changing. On this particular day, however, he recognizes a difference — a yellow leaf. In doing so ...
Arizonan Alberto Rios probably observed this shamel ash often, its year-round green leaves never changing. On this particular day, however, he recognizes a difference — a yellow leaf. In doing so ...
2 years ago | 0 | 6 |
full story
| 6 |
Birds soar with one mind in ‘Cliff Swallows’
Many of you have seen flocks of birds or schools of minnows acting as if they were guided by a common intelligence, turning together, stopping together. Here is a poem by Debra Nystrom that beaut...
Many of you have seen flocks of birds or schools of minnows acting as if they were guided by a common intelligence, turning together, stopping together. Here is a poem by Debra Nystrom that beaut...
2 years ago | 0 | 6 |
full story
| 6 |
Aging doesn’t mean purpose is lost (in ‘Of Some Renown’)
In this short poem by Vermont writer Jean L. Connor, an older speaker challenges the perception that people her age have lost their vitality and purpose. Connor compares the life of such a person...
In this short poem by Vermont writer Jean L. Connor, an older speaker challenges the perception that people her age have lost their vitality and purpose. Connor compares the life of such a person...
2 years ago | 0 | 6 |
full story
| 6 |
local news