Exploring poetry together can make your friendships (and your life) more interesting—whether at home, school, or in the workplace. Here are 10 great ideas for how to start a poetry club and keep the goodness going.
Poet-a-Day: Meet Claire Bateman
What can you find in a Field Guide? Maybe a poem with a corolla, breaking open. Claire Bateman did.
Poet-a-Day: Meet Benjamin Myers
It’s difficult to tell a story with a sestina. And that’s exactly why Benjamin Myers explored a Muse story with this hard-to-hold form.
Reconsidering History: Natasha Trethewey and “Native Guard”
In “Native Guard,” poet Natasha Trethewey considers what history often forgets, in this case a Black regiment that fought for the Union.
Poet-a-Day: Meet John Poch
What two things must your villanelle have—to make it minimally successful? Find out in this Echo and Narcissus poem from poet John Poch!
Poetry Prompt: What’s Left Now
What fragments of love can you find (and write about) from what’s left now? Callie Feyen uses a poem by Marjorie Maddox for inspiration.
How to Write a Form Poem: Hear the Poets Read!
Whether you’re teaching or learning, you’ll love being able to hear the poets read from ‘How to Write a Form Poem.’ Plus, see their regional items!
Poet-a-Day: Meet Jill Baumgaertner
The repetitive rural images of the Lake District provided inspiration for Jill Baumgaertner’s “Cumbria Pantoum.” What will inspire yours?
By Heart: ‘Choices’ + New Kate Baer Challenge
Sometimes our choices come down to nests or mountains. Learn Tess Gallagher’s poem “Choices” By Heart and see which one you choose.
Poet-a-Day: Meet Todd C. Truffin
A soccer coach inspiring a villanelle? It could happen. (Indeed, it did, in this villanelle from Todd C. Truffin.)
Poet-a-Day: Meet Gabriel Spera
Can a sonnet be funny? (Should it be, especially if a household “disaster” is in progress?) Gabriel Spera chose amusement…
The Great Gatsby Book Club: Chapters 7-9—Borne Back Ceaselessly Into the Past
In the final installment of our The Great Gatsby book club, Tania Runyan explores what it means to be “borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
Poet-a-Day: Meet Janet Aalfs
A lost red button calls out to become an ode for a wider memory in Janet Aalfs’ touching poem about her mother and more.
You Can Go Home Again – to the Bookstore
After more than a year of pandemic-induced isolation, I was able to go home again—in this case, a bookstore.
Poet-a-Day: Meet John Stevenson
What do all Japanese poems have in common that might change how you view haiku? John Stevenson explores the answer…
Poetry Prompt: Choose Risk Over Cuteness —The Acrostic Poem
Think the acrostic poem is too cute? Think again. Join Callie Feyen and Tania Runyan and see how risky the form can be.
Poet-a-Day: Meet Murray Silverstein
What if one of your end words talked back, saying it needed to go? Murray Silverstein shows how you can be illuminated by your sestina’s own way.
Poet-a-Day: Meet Susan Rothbard
When you think you’re grounded in reality, a form like the sonnet might lead you to the imaginary. It did for Susan Rothbard in her apple poem!
Poet-a-Day: Meet Richard Pierce
Can the villanelle come round again? Poet Richard Pierce responds to Dylan Thomas’s famous villanelle with a powerful one of his own.
The Great Gatsby Book Club: Chapters 5 & 6—Dreams and Longing
If it’s about anything, The Great Gatsby is about dreams and longing. But does Jay Gatsby cherish the dream of Daisy more than Daisy herself?
Poet-a-Day: Meet Barbara Crooker
Sometimes a poem can start as free verse and as things go, the poem is asking to be written in form. Barbara Crooker’s acrostic shows the way.