American Poetry
All contributors in American Poetry
The ten versagraphs of Adrienne Rich's "Diving into the Wreck" dramatize a reader's metaphorical journey to explore the nature of a non-existent catastrophe. more...
The ne'er-do-well "Hod Putt" finds solace in the notion that finally in death he has achieved a measure of equality with a man who was actually successful in life. more...
Former U. S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser offers one of his fascinating observations, as he allows his speaker to speculate on the character of an aging, tattooed biker-type. more...
"The Hill" is the first poem in Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology, a series dramatizing the lives of deceased residents of the fictional town of Spoon River. more...
Dickinson's Two Butterflies went out at Noon
Emily Dickinson's gift of imagining supernaturally is on display in this fanciful piece that dramatizes the mystical flight of two butterflies. more...
Bryant's The Gladness of Nature
One of the most cheerful poems ever written, "The Gladness of Nature," paints smiles on the faces of fruit and flowers and allows the sunshine to chase away all gloom. more...
Frost's Acquainted with the Night
The speaker in Robert Frost's American sonnet reveals his rebellious nature, proclaiming his individual prerogative to venture into the city at night. more...
All feature articles in American Poetry
Louis Zukofsky and the Objectified Poem
By: Jim Benz
Louis Zukofsky used every aspect of the written word to create multi-faceted poems which replicate the dynamics of worldly, human experience. more...
Garrison's "Bach in the Subway"
By: Matthew Birdsall
Being lost without a direction or need for a direction can create wonderful feelings of weightlessness, and it is a perfectly respectable way to spend one's time. more...
Joseph Brodsky's "A Polar Explorer"
By: Matthew Birdsall
Exploration is touted as the pathway to discovery and human achievement, but sometimes when you reach for the top the bottom falls out. more...
Donald Hall Chronicle of Causality
By: Matthew Birdsall
Everyone knows that in order to have safe sex you must use protection, but sometimes the consequences of safe sex can be just as devastating as unsafe sex. more...
Levine's "Animals Are Passing From Our Lives"
By: Matthew Birdsall
When facing an obstacle the easy way out is tempting, but it is better face to adversity with head held high even in the thick of increasing vacuousness. more...
By: Matthew Birdsall
Art often enables people to release pent up emotions and thoughts that would otherwise drive them mad, yet sometimes it is madness that drives creativity. more...
William Bronk – Oh What a Relief He Is
By: Douglas Nordfors
The American poet William Bronk, who died in 1999, is the perfect antidote for anyone whose not in tune with all the experimentation going on in American poetry today. more...
All contributing articles in American Poetry