“Sixty Years After” by Derek Walcott
From the Nobel Laureate's latest collection, White Egrets.… Read More
“Lion” by Jericho Brown
"I strive to be clear—not obvious. I am neither afraid of nor married to difficulty or accessibility. I mean to write poems that are felt before they are understood. Of course, anyone… Read More
“Prayer” by Jorie Graham
From Never by Jorie Graham, published by HarperCollins, 2002.… Read More
“The Black Virginity” by Mina Loy
Conrad Aiken encouraged readers to "pass lightly over the . . . tentacular quiverings of Mina Loy," and John Collier cited Loy's verse as an example of "the need for objective standards."… Read More
“The Moose” by Elizabeth Bishop
David Yezzi will be leading a critical seminar on the life and works of Elizabeth Bishop to mark the centenary of her birth. Those interested in participating should visit the website of… Read More
“No Swan So Fine” by Marianne Moore
But there remains one all-important phrase in the poem. When one hears "The king is dead," the unspoken response should also be heard: "Long live the king!" One must be ready to… Read More
“You can tell by the way he slices the cantaloupe” by D. H. Tracy
The Editors of The New Criterion are pleased to announce that D. H. Tracy is the winner of the eleventh annual New Criterion Poetry Prize. Mr. Tracy will recieve $3,000, and his… Read More
“[By any measure]” by Ben Lerner
Ben Lerner (born February 4, 1979 in Topeka, Kansas) was awarded the Hayden Carruth prize for his cycle of fifty-two sonnets, The Lichtenberg Figures. In 2004, Library Journal named it one of… Read More
“Cy Twombly, ‘Night Watch'” by H. L. Hix
H.L. Hix teaches at the University of Wyoming. He is also the author of the verse biography, Incident Light (Etruscan Press, 2009). … Read More
“First Party At Ken Kesey’s With Hell’s Angels” by Allen Ginsberg
Cool black night thru redwoods . . .… Read More
“All That I Owe The Fellows Of The Grave” by Dylan Thomas
A poem by the wild Welshman. … Read More
“Be Drunk” by Charles Baudelaire, translated by Louis Simpson
Special thanks to E-Verser Paul Siegell, who selected today's poem. … Read More
“The Vapour Trail” by James Fenton
From Fenton's libretto to the opera The Love Bomb. … Read More
“The Orchid Flower” by Sam Hamill
"Sam Hamill is one of the most disturbing poets of our time. In Almost Paradise he finds his voice both in his own strong work and his intensely powerful translations. I've followed… Read More
“Blandeur” by Kay Ryan
"Her poems are compact, exhilarating, strange affairs, like Erik Satie miniatures or Joseph Cornell boxes. She is an anomaly in today's literary culture: as intense and elliptical as Dickinson, as buoyant and… Read More
“In Paris With You” by James Fenton
While reading Hitch-22, Christopher Hitchens' memoir, I've come across quite a few anecdotes involving his friend, poet and critic James Fenton. I was lucky enough to slump around seminars with him in… Read More
“Oh the Burden of / nouns . . .” from The Book of Frank by CA Conrad
From C.A. Conrad's reissued book from Wave Books. … Read More
“Lines on the Winter Solstice” by Ernest Hilbert
Calculated to reflect the sixty minutes in an hour of heightened imaginative contemplation, the poems in Ernest Hilbert’s first book, Sixty Sonnets, contain memories of violence, historical episodes, humorous reflections, quiet… Read More
“Santa Claus” by Howard Nemerov
When David Yezzi recommended "The Town Dump" by Howard Nemerov as Wednesday's poem, he sparked off two more posts. I came up with the top five junkyard poems on my trolley ride… Read More
“The Town Dump” by Howard Nemerov
Regarding his fame, Nemerov told Jake Thompson of the Chicago Tribune, "You do the best you can and really don't worry about immortality all that much, especially as you have to be… Read More
“The Garden” by Andrew Marvell
"Member of Parliament, tutor to Oliver Cromwell’s ward, satirist, and friend of John Milton, Andrew Marvell was one of the most significant poets of the seventeenth century. The Complete Poems demonstrates his… Read More
“Baradiel Loading Gunpowder into His Harquebus” by Odi Gonzales
From Odi Gonzales’s collection La Escuela de Cusco [The School of Cusco], (Santiago de Surco, Peru: Ediciones el Santo Oficio-Gráficos, 2005), translated by Lynn Levin was first published in. … Read More
“The Ball Poem” by John Berryman
John Berryman was born John Smith in McAlester, Oklahoma, in 1914. He received an undergraduate degree from Columbia College in 1936 and attended Cambridge University on a fellowship. He taught at Wayne… Read More
David Yezzi Discusses the Importance of “Small Magazines” at Victory Collaborative
David Yezzi says a few words about the importance and durability of quality literary magazines. … Read More
“On Reading Crowds and Power” by Geoffrey Hill
Geoffrey Hill was born in Worcestershire, England in 1932. From a working-class family, Hill attended Oxford where his work was first published by the poet Donald Hall. These poems later collected in… Read More
“Splitting Ice” by Kay Ryan
Kay Ryan's latest book is The Best of It: New and Selected Poems. She recently completed two terms as the Poet Laureate of the United States.… Read More
“The Last Supper” by Odi Gonzales
From Odi Gonzales’s collection La Escuela de Cusco [The School of Cusco], (Santiago de Surco, Peru: Ediciones el Santo Oficio-Gráficos, 2005), translated by Lynn Levin was first published in. … Read More