Diane Gilliam Fisher has published a book called Kettle Bottom that portrays the hard life of the West Virginia coal camps. Here is just one of her evocative poems.
Jonathan Greene is a master of the short poem, but while he prunes them down to their essentials he never cuts out the wonder and delight.
Here’s a poem by an Indiana poet, Shari Wagner, that has a delightful time describing the many sounds of running water.
Who hasn’t wished he or she could talk to a carnival worker and find out what their lives are like? Everybody, perhaps, but the carnival workers. Here’s a poem by Mark Kraushaar of Wisconsin that captures one of those lives.
No ideas but in things, said one of my favorite poets, William Carlos Williams, and here’s a fine poem by Maryann Corbett of St. Paul, Minnesota, about turning up one small object loaded with meaning.
I’m especially fond of sparklers because they were among the very few fireworks we could obtain in Iowa when I was a boy.
Parents and children. Sometimes it seems that’s all there is to life. In this poem Donna Spector gives us a ride that many of us may have taken, hanging on for dear life.
When a poem has a strong story to tell, the simplest and most direct language is often the best choice because the poet may not want literary effects to get in the way of the message.
Let’s celebrate the first warm days of spring with a poem for mushroom hunters, this one by Amy Fleury.
I was born in April and have never agreed with T.S. Eliot that it is “the cruellest month.” Why would I want to have been born from that? Here’s Robert Hedin, who lives in Minnesota, showing us what April can be like once Eliot is swept aside.
Love poems written in the sonnet form, all hearts and flowers, are a dime a dozen, so it’s a delight to see a poet coming at the sonnet from the flip side.
Here’s another lovely poem to honor the caregivers among us. Amy Fleury lives and teaches in Louisiana.
Li-Young Lee is an important American poet of Chinese parentage who lives in Chicago. Much of his poetry is marked by unabashed tenderness, and this poem is a good example of that.
