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Bane

Full of strength and laced
with fragility:

the thoroughbred,
the hummingbird,
and all things
cursed
with agility.

41,493

poems

4,155

poets

207

poetic terms

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Selected

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It's not because the halter in my …

Leslie Ullman

The guys who drank quarts of Busch last night …

Mark Halliday

Argument …

Erasmus Darwin

Right now, he thinks, right now a woman in Paris …

Dick Allen

Whirl up, sea— …

H.D.

Less the shadow …

Carl Phillips

Walking up stairs. I will stare …

Gary Soto

Who is speaking? Our correspondent on the hill above the river, making pictures for exhibition in other places. Each stroke of his pen ricochets across the valley. He sees what he wants to see. He does not hear what he cannot see. A smoking ruin behind him. Another waiting just around the bend. airy particulates …

Michele Leggott

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