The Great Palaces Of Versailles by Rita Dove
Nothing nastier than a white person! She mutters as she irons alterations in the backroom of Charlotte’s Dress Shoppe. The steam rising from a cranberry wool comes alive with perspiration and stale Evening of Paris. Swamp she born from, swamp she swallow, swamp she got to sink again. The iron shoves gently into a gusset, […]
Teach Us To Number Our Days by Rita Dove
In the old neighborhood, each funeral parlor is more elaborate than the last. The alleys smell of cops, pistols bumping their thighs, each chamber steeled with a slim blue bullet. Low-rent balconies stacked to the sky. A boy plays tic-tac-toe on a moon crossed by TV antennae, dreams he has swallowed a blue bean. It […]
Primer by Rita Dove
In the sixth grade I was chased home by the Gatlin kids, three skinny sisters in rolled-down bobby socks. Hissing Brainiac! and Mrs. Stringbean!, they trod my heel. I knew my body was no big deal but never thought to retort: who’s calling who skinny? (Besides, I knew they’d beat me up.) I survived their […]
Persephone, Falling by Rita Dove
One narcissus among the ordinary beautiful flowers, one unlike all the others! She pulled, stooped to pull harder— when, sprung out of the earth on his glittering terrible carriage, he claimed his due. It is finished. No one heard her. No one! She had strayed from the herd. (Remember: go straight to school. This is […]
Mushrooms by Rina Ferrarelli
Mushrooms by Rina Ferrarelli A strange efflorescence on the lawn where hidden roots and stumps lie below the surface. Was it the rain, the sun after rain, the red moon that caused such profusion? They glow in the morning in the silver blue of dusk, open, and turn inside out in the bright midday sun– […]
Ludwig Von Beethoven’s Return To Vienna by Rita Dove
So when my proud city spread her gypsy skirts, I reentered; she burned a greater, constant light. Call me rough, ill-tempered, slovenly- I tell you, every tenderness I have ever known has been nothing but thwarted violence, an ache so permanent and deep, the lightest touch awakens it – it is impossible to care enough. […]
Lines Composed on the Body Politic by Rita Dove
Less than the charting of each dawn’s resolutions, less than each evening’s trickle of doubt, less than a crown’s weight in silver, a diamond’s scratch against glass, less than the touted ill luck of my rich beginnings—and yet more than Eve’s silence, my mute ingratitude. More than music’s safe passage, its rapturous net, more than […]
Lady Freedom Among Us by Rita Dove
Don’t lower your eyes or stare straight ahead to where you think you ought to be going don’t mutter oh no not another one get a job fly a kite go bury a bone with her oldfashioned sandals with her leaden skirts with her stained cheeks and whiskers and heaped up trinkets she has risen […]
I hear the roar of a Harley… by River Urke
I hear the roar of a Harley… by River Urke My days blend with abstract strokes marking my canvas of yesterday. A painting with darks of red and green broken hearts and shreds of torn dreams ripples of ebbs and flows of mourning. Our Orchid wilts in smears of gray as Cardinals sing their afternoon […]
Heart To Heart by Rita Dove
It’s neither red nor sweet. It doesn’t melt or turn over, break or harden, so it can’t feel pain, yearning, regret. It doesn’t have a tip to spin on, it isn’t even shapely— just a thick clutch of muscle, lopsided, mute. Still, I feel it inside its cage sounding a dull tattoo: I want, I […]
Hades’ Pitch by Rita Dove
If I could just touch your ankle, he whispers, there on the inside, above the bone—leans closer, breath of lime and pepper—I know I could make love to you. She considers this, secretly thrilled, though she wasn’t quite sure what he meant. He was good with words, words that went straight to the liver. Was […]
Fifth Grade Autobiography by Rita Dove
I was four in this photograph fishing with my grandparents at a lake in Michigan. My brother squats in poison ivy. His Davy Crockett cap sits squared on his head so the raccoon tail flounces down the back of his sailor suit. My grandfather sits to the far right in a folding chair, and I […]
Exit by Rita Dove
Just when hope withers, the visa is granted. The door opens to a street like in the movies, clean of people, of cats; except it is your street you are leaving. A visa has been granted, ‘provisionally’-a fretful word. The windows you have closed behind you are turning pink, doing what they do every dawn. […]
Dawn Revisited by Rita Dove
Imagine you wake up with a second chance: The blue jay hawks his pretty wares and the oak still stands, spreading glorious shade. If you don’t look back, the future never happens. How good to rise in sunlight, in the prodigal smell of biscuits – eggs and sausage on the grill. The whole sky is […]
Chocolate by Rita Dove
Velvet fruit, exquisite square I hold up to sniff between finger and thumb – how you numb me with your rich attentions! If I don’t eat you quickly, you’ll melt in my palm. Pleasure seeker, if i let you you’d liquefy everywhere. Knotted smoke, dark punch of earth and night and leaf, for a taste […]
Cavern in Paradise by Rita Odessa Villaruel
silly feet keep moving forward despite the burning coals on the ground why be hostile to the only thing that lights up the path? Copyright ©: Rita Odessa Villaruel 2011 ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of […]
Broccoli by Rina Ferrarelli
Broccoli by Rina Ferrarelli I like them best stir-fried, the bushy green tops, with oil and garlic and a blessing of salt. I feel I’m eating trees, hardwoods as seen from the air– marrow and sinew and the way they reach for light in any kind of weather. Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
Birth Of A Flower by Riss Ryker
Birth Of A Flower by Riss Ryker ently grows the flower. Seeking petal perfection on the wings of a seed. Mating with the earth in dark richness, germinating transcendence. Evolution bursts free, spiraling ever upwards to greet a bright reality. Unfolding newborns, velvet in their sheaths of green. Begging the sky, they drink. Perfect petals […]
American Smooth by Rita Dove
We were dancing—it must have been a foxtrot or a waltz, something romantic but requiring restraint, rise and fall, precise execution as we moved into the next song without stopping, two chests heaving above a seven-league stride—such perfect agony, one learns to smile through, ecstatic mimicry being the sine qua non of American Smooth. And […]
Amarene by Rina Ferrarelli
Amarene by Rina Ferrarelli A stain like wine on the fresh Italian bread, and the small wild cherries glazed, shining like garnets. You pause, allow their beauty to fill your eyes. You count on the bread and jam to be fragrant and sweet, and a little bit tart, but the marmellata you like so much […]
Adolescence II by Rita Dove
Although it is night, I sit in the bathroom, waiting. Sweat prickles behind my knees, the baby-breasts are alert. Venetian blinds slice up the moon; the tiles quiver in pale strips. Then they come, the three seal men with eyes as round As dinner plates and eyelashes like sharpened tines. They bring the scent of […]
Adolescence I by Rita Dove
In water-heavy nights behind grandmother’s porch We knelt in the tickling grasses and whispered: Linda’s face hung before us, pale as a pecan, And it grew wise as she said: ‘A boy’s lips are soft, As soft as baby’s skin.’ The air closed over her words. A firefly whirred near my ear, and in the […]
They are Cruel by Rixa White
How many of us suffered to death? How many of them gained more wealth? How many of us mourned? How many of them earned? How many times we suffered such a pain? How many times they will do this again? They are Cruel but… We don’t have to be. Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
The Polar Koala Bear by Robby Charters
in the land of hinter where it’s always winter there lived a ‘polar koala bear’ though he was fair dinkum feared the weather would sink’m he was none the worse for the wear worse for the ‘wear’? that’s funny, i swear! for the koala residing in hinter was only a koala but a tricky ol’ […]
The Lame Guy by Rob Leatherman Sr.
I’m lame Pretty fucking tame Don’t like when people use my head for games I’m a loser I’m a loner In High school I was a stoner Now I got a fucked up head And these meds make it tough to get a boner So I’ll just be me. A lame ass loser loner. And […]
The Invisible by Rixa White
The Invisible is moving Softly and soothing I feel it inside It is you It is my feeling for you I want to give it life My whole life Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
The Epic of Jack and Jill by Robby Charters
jack and jill went out to fetch the royal pail of water, but the only water in a mile radius flowed down the sewage gutter said jack to jill, ‘to reach the hill where the well is, we must move faster’ but jill nudged jack, he nudged her back, they broke out in a peal […]
The Commitment by Rob Leatherman Sr.
It’s what you wanted it’s what you got Singles for you, I should’ve fought Harder but I didn’t know what you thought After all this it’s hard to know what I’ve got I didn’t know, I didn’t see, You called yourself single, ready to mingle And that spoke to me Pushed as far as we […]
The Beginning of the End by Rixa White
That’s how it ends So, this is it. when we lose it all but this is not the End This is only The Beginning of the End Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
The Ancient Deception by Rixa White
Injured Soul Fainted Eyes Returning from where? Weary feet Weak arms Treading toward where? Struggled in vain battles Fighting delusive enemies Erred by a deception The ancient deception Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
Start Growing by Rixa White
A soft and gentle growth Under a blue sky Over a high mountain Extended over a vast land When the sun comes up Start growing Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
Splenda by Rob Leatherman Sr.
What a fucked up week Girl was lookin’ sleek Too bad it was to cheat on me She makes me weak Puts me down she would call me meek But the silly ass can’t define it. Feels so fucked up puts me through shit Would trade her ass for just one hit Was addicted to […]
Show me by Rixa White
I bow to purity But what is pure? Show me purity I bow to clarity But what is clear? Show me clarity Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
Rhyme by the Bog by Robby Charters
‘i ought-ter be in water ’twould be less hotter,’ said the otter ‘on the top where i can hop there’s not a drop,’ said frog, ‘full stop’ ‘it’s a fact,’ said the cat, ‘dry’s where it’s at, and that’s that’ said the eel, ‘wetness, i feel, is so ideal that i could squeal’ ‘in the […]
Power of Peace by Rixa White
Here I am Looking at the world’s mirror Finding myself at the center of a maze Constructing the roots of a dream for a nationless society by the power of peace Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
Poetic Justice by Robby Charters
poetic justice was when agustus made the decision that he would imprison all poets the consulting chief justice informed agustus that to go for broke he must revoke poetic license Copyright ©: 2004 robby charters ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster […]
Old Times by Rixa white
It is a mind-wandering time Remember the old times when illusions were distinct Remember the old times when a friendly chat was all we needed to brighten up our hearts Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
Nothing is Real by Rixa White
Survival is an ancient dream Life is nothing but an everlasting illusion Nothing is Real Don’t believe in illusion, Remember me, I am here … Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
Limericks by Robby Charters
a poet named robby who wrote limericks bared his whole heart in rhyming rhetorics but the critics, et cetra made sure he’d get extra bad marks for indulging in polemerics *** the first draft: a seemingly educated limericist named curdy writes limericks too over exceedingly wordy in spite of much how he tries to sound […]
It is a Show by Rixa White
They decide to show it is good It is a show They shout it is good It is a show They won’t let anything good to show up It is a show What do people believe? Is it a show? Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster