Lynching

A Poem about Lynching   In the shadows of memory, where darkness weaves, A tale of anguish and hearts that grieve, There lies a history fraught with pain, Of lives shattered, souls scarred, and tears like rain. In the annals of time, a dark stain etched deep, A legacy of hatred, where humanity weeps, Where […]

Kimchi

A poem about Kimchi or Kim-chi, the Korean style sauerkraut or fermented cabbage   In fiery hues of crimson and gold, A symphony of flavors unfolds, Kimchi, the fiery heart of the east, A pungent masterpiece that never ceased. O! Fermented wonder, spicy and bold, A dance of sensations, a tale yet untold, From humble […]

The Kingfisher poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry

In a year the nightingales were said to be so loud they drowned out slumber, and peafowl strolled screaming beside the ruined nunnery, through the long evening of a dazzled pub crawl, the halcyon color, portholed by those eye-spots’ stunning tapestry, unsettled the pastoral nightfall with amazements opening. Months later, intermission in a […]

The Cooling Tower poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry

By night a laddered diagram seen from the windows of this bedroom town-rayflowcrs of dread ascending and descending- identifies the cooling tower, insomniac vision revealed by day as a grayed obese archangel, its twiddled dirk of ash and rhinestone a metronomic rerun of some half obliterated last nightmare of Eden in the West: […]

Stacking The Straw poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry

In those days the oatfields’ fenced-in vats of running platinum, the yellower alloy of wheat and barley, whose end, however gorgeous all that trammeled rippling in the wind, came down to toaster-fodder, cereal as a commodity, were a rebuke to permanence-to bronze or any metal less utilitarian than the barbed braids that marked […]

Stacking The Straw poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry

In those days the oatfields’ fenced-in vats of running platinum, the yellower alloy of wheat and barley, whose end, however gorgeous all that trammeled rippling in the wind, came down to toaster-fodder, cereal as a commodity, were a rebuke to permanence-to bronze or any metal less utilitarian than the barbed braids that marked […]

Gradual Clearing poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry

Late in the day the fog wrung itself out like a sponge in glades of rain, sieving the half-invisible cove with speartips; then, in a lifting of wisps and scarves, of smoke-rings from about the islands, disclosing what had been wavering fishnet plissé as a smoothness of peau-de-soie or just-ironed percale, with a […]

Brought From Beyond poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry

The magpie and the bowerbird, its odd predilection unheard of by Marco Polo when he came upon, high in Badakhshan, that blue stone’s embedded glint of pyrites, like the dance of light on water, or of angels (the surface tension of the Absolute) on nothing, turned, by processes already ancient, into pigment: ultramarine, […]

A Hairline Fracture poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry

Whatever went wrong, that week, was more than weather: a shoddy streak in the fabric of the air of London that disintegrated into pollen and came charging down by the bushelful, an abrasive the color of gold dust, eroding the tearducts and littering the sidewalks in the neighborhood of Sloane Square, where the […]

A Cure At Porlock poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry

For whatever did it-the cider at the Ship Inn, where the crowd from the bar that night had overflowed singing into Southey’s Corner, or an early warning of appendicitis- the remedy the chemist in the High Street purveyed was still a dose of kaopectate in morphine-the bane and the afflatus of S.T.C. when […]

A Poem about Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut In a humble pot, a fermenting delight, Lies sauerkraut, a flavor so bold and bright. Cabbage transformed, in a magical dance, Bathed in tangy brine, a culinary romance. Taste the symphony of tartness and crunch, As each bite ignites senses with a zesty punch. A humble cabbage, transformed into grace, Sauerkraut, a cultural masterpiece. […]

Cabbage

  In verdant fields, a humble head does grow, A tightly bound, leafy globe of green, Its form unassuming, yet we come to know That in its essence, magic can be seen. A cabbage stout, its layers hold firm and tight, A symbol of resilience, strength untold, Its presence on our tables brings delight, A […]

Women’s Song Of The Corn poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

How beautiful are the corn rows, Stretching to the morning sun, Stretching to the evening sun. Very beautiful, the long rows of corn. How beautiful is the white corn, I husk it, I grind it. Very beautiful, my white corn. How beautiful is the red corn, I gather it and make fine meal, […]

Women’s Harvest Song poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

I am waving a ripe sunflower, I am scattering sunflower pollen to the four world-quarters. I am joyful because of my melons, I am joyful because of my beans, I am joyful because of my squashes. The sunflower waves. So did the corn wave When the wind blew against it, So did my […]

Women’s Song Of The Corn poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

How beautiful are the corn rows, Stretching to the morning sun, Stretching to the evening sun. Very beautiful, the long rows of corn. How beautiful is the white corn, I husk it, I grind it. Very beautiful, my white corn. How beautiful is the red corn, I gather it and make fine meal, […]

Women’s Harvest Song poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

I am waving a ripe sunflower, I am scattering sunflower pollen to the four world-quarters. I am joyful because of my melons, I am joyful because of my beans, I am joyful because of my squashes. The sunflower waves. So did the corn wave When the wind blew against it, So did my […]

White Currants poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

Shall I give you white currants? I do not know why, but I have a sudden fancy for this fruit. At the moment, the idea of them cherishes my senses, And they seem more desirable than flawless emeralds. Since I am, in fact, empty-handed, I might have chosen gems out of India, But […]

Two Lacquer Prints poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

The Emperor’s Garden ONCE, in the sultry heat of midsummer, An Emperor caused the miniature mountains in his garden To be covered with white silk, That so crowned, They might cool his eyes With the sparkle of snow. Meditation A wise man, Watching the stars pass across the sky, Remarked: In the upper […]

The Travelling Bear poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

GRASS-BLADES push up between the cobblestones And catch the sun on their flat sides Shooting it back, Gold and emerald, Into the eyes of passers-by. And over the cobblestones, Square-footed and heavy, Dances the trained bear. The cobbles cut his feet, And he has a ring in his nose But still he dances, […]

Towns in Colour poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

I Red Slippers Red slippers in a shop-window, and outside in the street, flaws of grey, windy sleet! Behind the polished glass, the slippers hang in long threads of red, festooning from the ceiling like stalactites of blood, flooding the eyes of passers-by with dripping colour, jamming their crimson reflections against the windows […]

The Travelling Bear poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

GRASS-BLADES push up between the cobblestones And catch the sun on their flat sides Shooting it back, Gold and emerald, Into the eyes of passers-by. And over the cobblestones, Square-footed and heavy, Dances the trained bear. The cobbles cut his feet, And he has a ring in his nose But still he dances, […]

The Swans poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

The swans float and float Along the moat Around the Bishop’s garden, And the white clouds push Across a blue sky With edges that seem to draw in and harden. Two slim men of white bronze Beat each with a hammer on the end of a rod The hours of God. Striking a […]

The Starling poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

Forever the impenetrable wall Of self confines my poor rebellious soul, I never see the towering white clouds roll Before a sturdy wind, save through the small Barred window of my jail. I live a thrall With all my outer life a clipped, square hole, Rectangular; a fraction of a scroll Unwound and […]

The Poet poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

What instinct forces man to journey on, Urged by a longing blind but dominant! Nothing he sees can hold him, nothing daunt His never failing eagerness. The sun Setting in splendour every night has won His vassalage; those towers flamboyant Of airy cloudland palaces now haunt His daylight wanderings. Forever done With simple […]

The Letter poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

Little cramped words scrawling all over the paper Like draggled fly’s legs, What can you tell of the flaring moon Through the oak leaves? Or of my uncertain window and the bare floor Spattered with moonlight? Your silly quirks and twists have nothing in them Of blossoming hawthorns, And this paper is dull, […]

The Garden By Moonlight poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

A black cat among roses, Phlox, lilac-misted under a first-quarter moon, The sweet smells of heliotrope and night-scented stock. The garden is very still, It is dazed with moonlight, Contented with perfume, Dreaming the opium dreams of its folded poppies. Firefly lights open and vanish High as the tip buds of the golden […]

The Dinner-Party poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

Fish “So . . .” they said, With their wine-glasses delicately poised, Mocking at the thing they cannot understand. “So . . .” they said again, Amused and insolent. The silver on the table glittered, And the red wine in the glasses Seemed the blood I had wasted In a foolish cause. Game […]

The Cremona Violin poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

Part First Frau Concert-Meister Altgelt shut the door. A storm was rising, heavy gusts of wind Swirled through the trees, and scattered leaves before Her on the clean, flagged path. The sky behind The distant town was black, and sharp defined Against it shone the lines of roofs and towers, Superimposed and flat […]

The Country House poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

Did the door move, or was it always ajar? The gladioli on the table are pale mauve. I smell pale mauve and blue, Blue soft like bruises-putrid-oozing- The air oozes blue-mauve- And the door with the black line where it does not shut! I must pass that door to go to bed, Or […]

The Artist poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

Why do you subdue yourself in golds and purples? Why do you dim yourself with folded silks? Do you not see that I can buy brocades in any draper’s shop, And that I am choked in the twilight of all these colours. How pale you would be, and startling, How quiet; But your […]

Orange Of Midsummer poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry

You came to me in the pale starting of Spring, And I could not see the world For the blue mist of wonder before my eyes. You beckoned me over a rainbow bridge, And I set foot upon it, trembling. Through pearl and saffron I followed you, Through heliotrope and rose, Iridescence after […]