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Now reading

December 30

At 1:03 in the morning a fart

smells like a marriage between

an avocado and a fish head.

I have to get out of bed

to write this down without

   my glasses on.

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

When he says to her, "Look! I have something here to show …

Dorothy Donnelly

Show the Lord respect when you sing, Lil’ Anna. …

Airea D. Matthews

Looking forever toward some Far-away, …

Alice Corbin Henderson

all my desire is here before you, …

Yehudah Halevi

I love the statues in this town. …

Yevgeny Vinokurov

Leaves burning in the autumn, burning …

Ruth Gruber

JOHN WAIN …

John Wain

What sudden ill the world await, …

George Moses Horton

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