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Now reading

The Lovers

I was always afraid

of the next card

the psychic would turn

over for us—

                              Forgive me

for not knowing

how we were

every card in the deck.

41,493

poems

4,155

poets

207

poetic terms

Browse the collection

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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

This afternoon, black, green, and gold, …

William Burford

The mirror wished he were a picture on the wall …

Tom Disch

She must be brave! She must be brave! …

Thomas Hill McNeal

Some new Atlantis known as Lower …

Nathaniel Mackey

Something expired. At the turning, …

John Talbot

My mother’s mother, widowed very young …

Rhina P. Espaillat

lies on the shoulder …

Douglas Kearney

I created more loss where I meant to make less. …

Dan Beachy-Quick

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