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To J

how many poems will we
have written to you in your
innocence as i believe it
to be or beauty as andrew
before we stop
           to see in you the
understanding we desire
writing out of gratitude
for that

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.

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02

By form

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

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03

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

Poets →

Selected

Poems worth returning to

Matthew Paris, 13th-century monk at St. Albans, …

Pamela Gross

RONALD SILLIMAN …

Ron Silliman

Once upon a time there was a soldier …

Rigoberto González

Great armies do not guard …

Augustine Bowe

The seats faced backwards although the train car …

Jeffrey Jullich

Suppose it is nothing but the hive: …

Edgar Lee Masters

I never said I loved you, John: …

Christina Rossetti

These are all thoughts — of course. At the edge of the ocean with nowhere to go, …

Michael Hofmann

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