April 24, 2014
“Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.” — Rita Dove
Poetry
National Poetry Month: April 24th
April 24, 2014
Sweater Weather by Sharon Bryan Never better, mad as a hatter, right as rain, might and main, hanky panky, hot toddy, hoity-toity, cold shoulder, bowled over, rolling in clover, low blow, no soap, hope against hope, pay the piper, liar liar pants on fire, high and dry, shoo-fly pie,
National Poetry Month: April 23rd (Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare!)
April 23, 2014
Sonnet XXV by William Shakespeare Let those who are in favor with their stars Of public honor and proud titles boast, Whilst I, whom fortune of such triumph bars, Unlooked for joy in that I honor most. Great princes’ favorites their fair leaves spread But as the marigold at the sun’s eye; And in themselves […]
National Poetry Month: April 22nd
April 22, 2014
Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day; The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play. And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game. A straggling […]
National Poetry Month: April 21st
April 21, 2014
The Whippoorwill by Conrad Aiken Last night, as I lay half awake, A whippoorwill was in this tree, And sang, for the three-quarters moon, Another whippoorwill, and me. At first, I heard him far away — A ghostly whiplash. Then I heard, From the tall tree beneath the moon, What seemed indeed a different bird […]
National Poetry Month: April 20th
April 20, 2014
As I Grew Older by Langston Hughes It was a long time ago. I have almost forgotten my dream. But it was there then, In front of me, Bright like a sun— My dream. And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly, Between me and my dream. Rose until it touched the sky— The wall. […]
National Poetry Month: April 19th
April 19, 2014
Analfabeta by Jacqueline Osherow . .for Laura Dondoli, in memory of her great-grandfather I have a friend whose great-grandfather learned to read From an uncle blinded in battle under Garibaldi; He wanted Dante read to him aloud And the boy learned to distinguish our unwieldy Signs as simple sketches from his world, Each with an […]
Allen Ginsberg Reading
April 18, 2014
Check out this amazing clip of legendary Beat poet Allen Ginsberg reciting a poem on William F. Buckley Jr.’s conservative talk show “Firing Line.” Enjoy! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCWbVl4IKpU]
National Poetry Month: April 18th
April 18, 2014
Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Listen, my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.
April 17, 2014
“If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” — Emily Dickinson