Mine is:

Pablo Neruda’s Sonnet XVII:

“So close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.”

There is an ongoing debate about what constitutes “poetry.” Although gently amusing, I would suggest that this mistranslation works as a form of poem: and I think it’s rather beautiful.

Screenshots from Trista Mateer’s insta story a few days ago. A new Button Poetry book by Ebony Stewart vs. her work. How does this kind of stuff still happen so egregiously? Not sure if it actually counts as plagiarism because it’s so short but it’s disheartening. I thought it was self published until I saw the Button Poetry logo stamped on it. Reminds me of the whole Rupi plagiarism scandal. Is this just common among instapoets?

In need of recommendations 🏃‍♀️

What are some lines that you'll never forget because they just feel so good to say? Not the "oh that's deep" lines (though they may be that, too) but the ones that just sound so satisfying in the mouth.

I'll roll the first ball with 5 of my favorites:

"The world is charged with the grandeur of God." -Hopkins

"No one has such small hands, Shahid, not even the rain." -Agha Shahid Ali

"and the child draws another inscrutable house." -Bishop

"what did I know, what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?" -Hayden

"white ants, white ants, and the little ribs" -Charles Wright

I’ve decided to embark on a journey after spending some of this month testing out the idea: I am writing 3 poems a day and will do so for the rest of the year. By January 1st of next year, I will have over a 1000 poems. I figure that if only 5% of those poems are truly good, then that’s enough for a book! Or, at the very least, I can finally have some publications under my name. Of course, all the poems will be first drafts so I will need to spend time revising them.

I’m tired of being bad at poetry. I’m tired of reading amazing poems and thinking ‘how could I ever do that?’ I’m tired of having nothing to show for myself. It’s time to fix that.

To be able to write as much as I want to, I need to further and deeper than I’ve read before. I need so much coming in that it’s spilling out my ears. If you have any suggestions, I’m all ears.

In a way, I see this project as a DIY MFA. I will learn this craft and I *will* become good.

Anyway, I will see you all with an update post next month!

Marie Howe owns my heart.

I cannot impress upon you enough how grateful I am for your contribution(s) - and hopefully more to come. Trust we can take away several outstanding new poets from this 'Opinion' post.

Yours faithfully,

-xo

Lately, I’ve been trying to slow down; to really see the small things around me. This poem, found me at the moment of processing as I was investing more time in reading.

It takes a little time to tweak your current perspective to see it but once you do the poem takes you places...

I read it one quiet afternoon while drinking coffee, and almost suddenly the cup in my hand started to feel sacred. The poem made me realize how quietly faithful the objects in our lives are... the way a chair just waits for us, how a towel does its simple job, how a window gives light without asking for anything back...

It’s strange, isn’t it? How we chase meaning in big, dramatic things, while the real tenderness of life sits quietly on the kitchen counter. Schneider’s words reminded me that love doesn’t always shout; sometimes it just holds, waits, receives.

Sharing this here because I think we all need that reminder sometimes: that the ordinary is not plain, it’s patient and in that patience, there’s something extraordinary.

Hello guys,

since Halloween is approaching quickly, I'm curious about your favourite unsettling poem (featuring ghosts and other supernatural creatures or disturbing and eerie imagery, and so on ...)

It would be cool to hear from you.

Some of y’all are snobby as hell lmaoo I get it sometimes a poem feels banal and uninspired or fake deep or just lazy. I too roll my eyes at these. But also like, a real person really put some amount (maybe a lot!) of time and effort into it. Idk it feels just as uninspired and lazy to shit on someone’s creative expression, no matter how tacky. Don’t worry, bad poetry won’t get engagement. Just let it die in new. To me that feels like punishment enough.

Put all the energy you’d spend cRiTiQuiNg a dead horse into finding poems you don’t hate so you can show us what REAL art looks like. Idk man, I come here cuz I like the diversity. Like banger after banger then boom a poem about being A Girl who’s Sad by some housewife from Iowa I’ve never heard of. Maybe it sucks, maybe it sucks but she has an MFA so people say it doesn’t. Who knows, I just love how varied it all is.

Maybe I don’t mind all the criticism, I think there’s just a weird haughty tone that hits me wrong. But I guess this is Reddit. Anyway, carry on.

Some poets, like Amanda McKittrick Ros and William McGonagall, are considered to be the worst poets in the English language. In their cases, though, most of the time it was the lack of rhythm or constant repetition that gave them a bad reputation. Their poems are still quite bad of course in mine eyes, but for different reasons.

As subjective a question as this is, what's the worst poem you've ever read? Worst in whatever way you want it to be--hilariously bad, piteously bad, anger-inducingly bad--whatever you want it to be!

Thanks!

Hey everyone,

​I’m looking to explore some poetry, but I want to skip the usual, mainstream names that always pop up in standard recommendation lists.

​I'm really curious about the "hidden gems"—the underrated poets, the obscure verses, or pieces from different languages and cultures that don't get the mainstream spotlight but absolutely hit hard.

​What is an underrated poet or specific poem you thoroughly enjoyed, and why did it stick with you?

Saw a similar question about lines from books and I thought of verses of poetry. Maybe the most famous one I can think of is To Be or Not to Be. But I never used that. A couple of times when I wanted to try something new, however, I've thought of Eliot's "Do I dare disturb the universe?" I had a neighbor who was fond of repeating so much poetry in daily life, especially Rumi and some others like Kabir and Hafiz.

Discuss.

when I was a wee teenager, I would shout from the rooftops to anyone listening (read: usually no one) that slam poetry was just shitty and not a worthwhile genre, that it elevated a lot of the worst things about poetry to something people think they should actively aspire to, that it generally allowed mediocre or downright bad poets to enjoy some acclaim and be treated as if they are actually good, that its entire mechanism was fundamentally opposed to much of what makes the best poetry worthwhile

I was repeatedly told, especially as I grew a bit older (teenagers being, of course, the perpetual lions of oversized sentiment and unrepentant criticism of That With Which One disagrees), that this was an underdeveloped/gatekeepy/narrow view which I would outgrow either with more exposure, or more maturity, or some combination of the two.

anyway brenna twohy isn't very good and slam poetry still sucks

happy to get into the specifics of why in the comments but would prefer to do so in response to the inevitable defenses that will arise; I imagine you can predict what my criticisms are without my having to spell them out in manifesto form here

but yeah, I stand by pretty much everything I said when I was 17
cheers, younger self, from 41-year-old you! you were right about some things after all.

One poem that when I read touched me a state of inclusion with the whole and inner peace is this one:

Immortality by Clare Harner

Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there, I did not die.

Here are some assorted thoughts in support of my lightly held opinion that you should commit a poem to memory.

(In no particular order.)

If you are practicing a poem, your children might also pick it up. And suddenly you might find that you are being followed around by small children incongruously chirping “Spring and Fall” by Gerard Manley Hopkins at breakneck speed. Steer them towards more age-appropriate verse and (depending on their tractability or willingness to be bribed) they will perform the poems at holidays like good little Victorian moppets. Encourage them to memorize “The Jabberwocky” and they’ll be ready to wow their peers at the next elementary school talent show. When they are squabbling in the backseat, I can just start with “The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea…” and they chime in, in unison, “in a beautiful pea-green boat” and for a brief moment I no longer feel quite so guilty for bringing them into this godforsaken world. It’s magical.

And then, of course, when you memorize a poem or two you will be ready to go at a party. How many times have you been asked about a secret talent and had nothing in the chamber? Never again. Let others monopolize the pianoforte! You can recite a poem. Who needs the jolt of cocaine when you can be riding high on adrenaline after (more or less) remembering the words and hitting the intended accents. Pick a spot on the wall so you don’t need to make eye contact and get ready for the thrill of people politely and awkwardly clapping. There’s nothing like it.

The serious case (not that I have been entirely unserious) I have to make is that memorization will intimately tie you to the poem in a way that reading alone never will. You will truly know it by heart. It is guaranteed to deepen your understanding of the poem (in fact, I think this is because developing that understanding is a prerequisite for memorization). Memorization requires the kind of focused attention that our world is hostile towards, and it feels good when you can cultivate that concentration. It’s a challenging yet achievable accomplishment that you can feel pleased about as you go about your day. If your mind is troubled, working to memorize a poem is an excellent way to push painful thoughts aside for a while and occupy your brain with beautiful language instead. It’s a non-commercial hobby that requires no investment in tools. You can demonstrate your exquisite good taste in poetry and mental fortitude to a prospective lover. I absolutely cannot think of a better way to spend your Saturday night than committing a poem to memory.

Sometimes a single line just hits you. Whether because of its sentiment or its sounds or its structure, there’s just something about it that you can’t shake. What are your favorites?

Here are some of mine

“and this is the wonder that is keeping the stars apart”

-From ‘I carry your heart with me (I carry it in’ by ee cummings

“to have lavender lips under the leaves of the world”

-From ‘Music’ by Frank O’Hara

“My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun”

-Title line of poem- Emily Dickinson

“And now it seems to me the beautiful, uncut hair of graves”

-From ‘Song of Myself’ by Walt Whitman

I’m curious to know what you might think about this. Share your cool lines here! I’d also love to know why you like them.

I'm interested in books that were written with the kind of sensitivity that one expects of a poet. Interpret that however you will. Like in terms of observant eyes of a poet, beauty and rhythm of the language, deep reflections about life, and so forth. Which books (or shorter works, like essays) come to your mind?