For the last day of National Poetry Month, I have compiled some of my favorite poems—never before seen on this website!—that were either very lengthy, or couldn’t be showcased because there weren’t enough days in the month. I have only brushed the very tip of the iceberg—I haven’t even gotten to non-English poems—but I enjoyed sharing every one of these works.
Due to length, I’ve cut most of these works. Click on the links in the poems to read them in their entirety.
“What Do Women Want?” by Kim Addonizio
“Duality” by Tina Chang
Perhaps I hold people to impossible ideals,
I tell them, something is wrong with your
personality, (you’re a drinker, you’re
too dependent, or I think you have
a mother/son fixation). This is usually
followed by passionate lovemaking,
one good long and very well meaning
embrace, and then I’m out the door.
“Dream On” by James Tate
Some people go their whole lives
without ever writing a single poem.
Extraordinary people who don’t hesitate
to cut somebody’s heart or skull open.
They go to baseball games with the greatest of ease.
and play a few rounds of golf as if it were nothing.
These same people stroll into a church
as if that were a natural part of life.
“The Waste Land” by T. S. Eliot
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
