My idea of reading a favorite poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth feels like too much right now. So I’ll just post a favorite a day.

“Dear Friends,” by EA Robinson seems like a fitting start. He once wrote, “I finally realized that I was doomed, or elected, or sentenced for life, to the writing of poetry.... I kept the grisly secret to myself.”
1/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“Places and Ways to Live” by Richard Hugo

2/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

Lynne Knight’s “To The Young Man Who Cried Out ‘What Were You Thinking?’ When I Backed Into His Car”

3/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“Beatific,” by Tracy K. Smith

4/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“Hot” by Craig Arnold.

5/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“Takeoff” by Timothy Steele

6/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“In Order To...” by Kenneth Patchen

7/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“Home to Roost,” by Kay Ryan

8/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost

9/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“The Self-Unseeing” by Thomas Hardy

10/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“man in the sun,” by Charles Bukowski

11/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“America” by Claude McKay

12/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“Meeting by accident” by Emily Dickinson

13/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“A Tale” by Louise Bogan

14/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“Décima: Al salir de la cárcel” by Fray Luis de León (and my translation from Unsplendid). Written when Fray Luis was released by the Inquisition after 3 years in prison.

15/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“Reuben Bright” by E.A. Robinson.

16/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“Te Deum” by Charles Reznikoff

17/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“Choose Something Like A Star” by Robert Frost. I memorized this more than 40 years ago, for no reason. I’m usually a terrible memorizer, but this has stuck with me.

18/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth

“Villanelle: Late Summer” by Marilyn Hacker

I missed two days in this thread so I’m posting 3 poems today. Each a #villanelle. This is 1/3

19/30 fave poem a day for #NationalPoetryMonth