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Crocodile Tears

The one sincere
crocodile has
gone dry eyed
for years. Why
bother crying
crocodile tears.

41,493

poems

4,155

poets

207

poetic terms

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Selected

Poems worth returning to

The bone that has no marrow; …

Emily Dickinson

She is afraid, too. So she needs this protection. She has tried to conceal her identity with mockery, "I am a woman of pleasure." She knows what the Greeks think of her, and here is Greece-incarnate, the hero-god; true, he is shipwrecked; nevertheless, though wounded, he carries with him the threat of autocracy. She has lost caste. He is still Achilles. Or who is she? She says that Helen upon the ramparts was a phantom. Then, what is this Helen? Are they both ghosts? And if she is convinced of this, why does she entreat the flame that Achilles kindled, "let me love him, as Thetis, his mother"? Is she afraid of losing even her phantom integrity? And what of it? Thetis — Isis — Aphrodite — it was not her fault. …

H.D.

The zoo is tough terrain; hilly. …

Karl Knights

WALTER H. KERR …

Walter H. Kerr

THREE POEMS …

Leo Grudsky

The King saith, and his arm swept the landscape’s foliage into bloom …

Mary Karr

In nyc, we stalked fishes …

Adrian Matejka

IF the butterfly courted the bee, …

William Brighty Rands

The glossary

The language about poetry

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

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Accentual verseAccentual-syllabic verseAcmeismAlcaicAlexandrineAmbiguity