Sonrisas By Pat Mora I live in a doorway between two rooms. I hear quiet clicks, cups of black coffee, click, click like facts budgets, tenure, curriculum, from careful women in crisp beige suits, quick beige smiles that seldom sneak…
Category: Poem Analysis
Sometimes When it Rains
Sometimes When it Rains By Gcina Mhlophe Sometimes when it rains I smile to myself And think of times when as a child I’d sit by myself And wonder why people need clothes Sometimes when it rains I think of…
Some Kiss We Want
Some Kiss We Want By Jalal ad-Din Mohammad Rumi Translated by Coleman Barks There is some kiss we want with our whole lives a touch of Spirit on the body Seawater begs the pearl to break its shell. And the…
Snow
Snow By Louis MacNeice The room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window was Spawning snow and pink roses against it Soundlessly collateral and incompatible: World is suddener than we fancy it. World is crazier and more of it than…
The Sound of Silence
The Sound of Silence By Paul Simon Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain,…
Talking In Bed
Talking In Bed By Philip Larkin Talking in bed ought to be easiest, Lying together there goes back so far, An emblem of two people being honest. Yet more and more time passes silently. Outside, the wind’s incomplete unrest Builds…
Still Here
Still Here By Langston Hughes I been scarred and battered. My hopes the wind done scattered. Snow has friz me, Sun has baked me, Looks like between ‘em they done Tried to make me Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’–…
Smart
Smart By Shel Silverstein My dad gave me one dollar bill ‘Cause I’m his smartest son, And I swapped it for two shiny quarters ‘Cause two is more then one! And then I took the quarters And traded them to…
she being Brand
she being Brand By E. E. Cummings she being Brand -new;and you know consequently a little stiff i was careful of her and(having thoroughly oiled the universal joint tested my gas felt of her radiator made sure her springs were…
Love, a child, is ever crying
Love, a child, is ever crying By Lady Mary Wroth LOVE, a child, is ever crying; Please him, and he straight is flying; Give him, he the more is craving, Never satisfied with having. His desires have no measure; Endless…
Flying at Night
Flying at Night By Ted Kooser Above us, stars. Beneath us, constellations. Five billion miles away, a galaxy dies like a snowflake falling on water. Below us, some farmer, feeling the chill of that distant death, snaps on his yard…
Problems with Hurricanes
Problems with Hurricanes By Victor Hernández Cruz – 1949- A campesino looked at the air And told me: With hurricanes it’s not the wind or the noise or the water. I’ll tell you he said: it’s the mangoes, avocados Green…
Refugees
Refugees By Brian Bilston They have no need of our help So do not tell me These haggard faces could belong to you or me Should life have dealt a different hand We need to see them for who they…
Rite of Passage
Rite of Passage By Sharon Olds As the guests arrive at our son’s party they gather in the living room— short men, men in first grade with smooth jaws and chins. Hands in pockets, they stand around jostling, jockeying for…
Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note By Amiri Baraka for Kellie Jones, born 16 May 1959 Lately, I’ve become accustomed to the way The ground opens up and envelopes me Each time I go out to walk the dog.…
Munition Wages
Munition Wages By Madeline Ida Bedford Earning high wages? Yus, Five quid a week. A woman, too, mind you, I calls it dim sweet. Ye’are asking some questions — But bless yer, here goes: I spends the whole racket On…
A Leave-Taking
A Leave-Taking By Algernon Charles Swinburne Let us go hence, my songs; she will not hear. Let us go hence together without fear; Keep silence now, for singing-time is over, And over all old things and all things dear. She…
Mrs Aesop
Mrs Aesop By Carol Ann Duffy By Christ, he could bore me for Purgatory. He was small didn’t prepossess. So he tried to impress. Dead men, Mrs Aesop, he’d say, tell no tales. Well, let me tell you now that the bird…
Mother, Washing Dishes
Mother, Washing Dishes By Susan Meyers She rarely made us do it— we’d clear the table instead—so my sister and I teased that some day we’d train our children right and not end up like her, after every meal stuck…
Never Shall I Forget
Never Shall I Forget By Elie Wiesel Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke.…