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President Emeritus

Books he would gladly give,
Gold, success, and all,
For a dog's nose against his hand,
And the catch in a wild bird's call.
                               Josephine Pollitt

41,493

poems

4,155

poets

207

poetic terms

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01

By feeling

Grief, desire, revolt, wonder. Start where the poem meets your life.

Emotions →
02

By form

Follow the sonnet, ghazal, villanelle, ode, and every shape in between.

The glossary →
03

By constellation

Move between a poet, their influences, peers, translations, and afterlives.

Poets →

Selected

Poems worth returning to

THREE POEMS …

Ted Olson

I had not thought of violets late, …

Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson

Spontaneously-and without the least rehearsal- …

Edward Brash

Paunch foremost, shambling, dilatory, …

James Reeves

The heart, it hoards— …

Kevin Young

Once I called time by pretty names …

Marjorie Meeker

"We shall need also shrouds" …

Marian Ramie

Someone once told me that animals are people under spells, and if you fall in love with them the spell will be lifted. I recently fell in love with a black trumpeter swan. I watched her ruffle her neck feathers for hours, watched her peck bugs from her breast. I was sure she would make a beautiful bride, but she was always a black trumpeter swan. I once brushed a horse’s hair for 3 straight years until it crumpled into death. The truth is there is no such thing as spells. The world is always as it is, and always as it seems. And love is just our own kind voice that we whisper into our own blood. …

Zachary Schomburg

The glossary

The language about poetry

From aubade to zuihitsu, 207 definitions of the forms, figures, and schools that shape the line.

Explore the glossary→
Accentual verseAccentual-syllabic verseAcmeismAlcaicAlexandrineAmbiguity