April 30, 2012 • Category: Blog
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In honor of this 30th day of National Poetry Month, we’ve listed 30 of our favorite poems of all time. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the best poems out there, but it is a list of poems that have moved us, stuck with us, and kept us going.
Do you have a favorite poem that isn’t listed? Tell us about it and link to it in the comments for a chance to win a copy of Julia Alvarez’s poetry collection The Woman I Kept to Myself. Please also check out Alvarez’s beautiful memoir A Wedding in Haiti, which just came out last week.
Lauren’s Picks:
“Musée des Beaux Arts” by W. H. Auden
“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” by Emily Dickinson
“Needs” by Stuart Dischell
“fire” by Nick Flynn
“Chosen by the Lion” by Linda Gregg
“A Story About the Body” by Robert Hass
“Piss Christ” by Andrew Hudgins
“Nude Interrogation” by Yusef Komunyakaa
“My Story in a Late Style of Fire” by Larry Levis
“Archaic Torso of Apollo” by Rainer Maria Rilke
“Old Joke” by Alan Shapiro
“Duende” by Tracy K. Smith
“Door in the Mountain” by Jean Valentine
“Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota” by James Wright
“Adam’s Curse” by W. B. Yeats
Megan’s Picks:
“The Distances” by Jim Carroll
“love is more thicker than forget” by e. e. cummings
“All This and More” by Mary Karr
“A Fable” by Robert Kelly
“Happiness” by Jane Kenyon
“Food of Love” by Carolyn Kizer
“Love Song”by Carol Muske-Dukes
“One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII” by Pablo Neruda
“Steps” by Frank O’Hara
“Know-Nothing” by Sharon Olds
“Beggar’s Song” by Gregory Orr
“Love Song” by Dorothy Parker
“Thin” by Kay Ryan
“All My Pretty Ones” by Anne Sexton
“Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand
Tags: A Wedding in Haiti, Alan Shapiro, Andrew Hudgins, Anne Sexton, Carol Muske-Dukes, Carolyn Kizer, Dorothy Parker, e. e. cummings, Emily Dickenson, Frank O'Hara, Gregory Orr, James Wright, Jane Kenyon, Jean Valentine, Jim Carroll, Julia Alvarez, Kay Ryan, Larry Levis, Linda Gregg, Mark Strand, Mary Karr, National Poetry Month, Nick Flynn, Pablo Neruda, Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Hass, Robert Kelly, Sharon Olds, Stuart Dischell, The Woman I k, Tracy K Smith, W. B. yeats, W. H. Auden, Yusef Komunyakaa
Autumn says...
http://www.bartleby.com/104/106.html
Ezra Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro”
I know it’s short and odd but I had to read it and analyze it in my favorite English class my Junior year of high school, and that class is what really made me want to go into the publishing business. This poem has so much hidden meaning and it really speaks to me.
May 3, 2012@ 10:26 AMCheryl says...
I also forgot to put the link: THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175758
May 1, 2012@ 1:19 AMCheryl says...
I love THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS by Robert Hayden. So poignant.
May 1, 2012@ 1:15 AMI also love Naomi Shihab Nye, Heather McHugh, Mary Oliver….too man to name!
Cheryl says...
I love THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS by Robert Hayden. So poignant.
May 1, 2012@ 1:15 AMI also love Naomi Shihab Nye, Heather McHugh, Mary Oliver….too man to name!
Karyn says...
Any and all Mary Oliver with some Billy Collins on the side!
May 1, 2012@ 12:37 AMhodgepodzaline says...
I love this!
I will post 3 poems by the brilliant Wislawa Szymborska!
The first, “Autotomy”
http://christinevlao.blogspot.com/2012/02/autotomy-by-wislawa-szymborska-1923.html
The second, “Under One Small Star”
https://readalittlepoetry.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/under-one-small-star-by-wislawa-szymborska/
Finally, “View With A Grain of Sand”
April 30, 2012@ 9:20 PMhttp://bettinamay.com/poem/2008/10/view-with-a-grain-of-sand-wislawa-szymborska.html
Lauren Moseley says...
Emily, I hear you! As Gary said, picking favorites is an impossible task, which is why I’m so appreciative of the excellent comments we’ve received to contribute to this list. In addition to Whitman and the other poets mentioned, where’s Shakespeare, where’s Bishop, where’s Lowell, where’s Jarrell . . . there’s so much stellar poetry available. I wish this list could contain multitudes.:)
April 30, 2012@ 9:06 PMBarbara says...
Love Ted Kooser’s poetry. One of my favorites is “In the Basement of the Goodwill Store.” http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171342
April 30, 2012@ 7:04 PMDC says...
Billy Collins has so many great ones, but LANYARD is my favorite!
April 30, 2012@ 3:49 PMruthie says...
“Wrinkles” by Erica Jong gets me every time!
April 30, 2012@ 3:36 PMhttp://poemsontherocks.blogspot.com/2006/04/wrinkles-by-erica-jong.html