id stringlengths 16 16 | title stringlengths 1 203 | author stringlengths 2 40 | poem stringlengths 1 87.3k | labels_l1 listlengths 1 10 | labels_l2 listlengths 0 15 | labels_l1_names listlengths 1 10 | labels_l2_names listlengths 0 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
b0ca0283e00732b9 | Bar Code | Valerio Magrelli | Let us honor the topmost banner fluttering over the kingdom of commodities— the encoded soul of price rose of the name and name of the rose, bundle of stems, fasces of tendons and veins— wrist on which to auscultate the pulse of money. | [
"S3",
"S4"
] | [
"S4-1"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"History & Politics"
] | [
"History & Politics/Money & Economics"
] |
6ee21aa0a2b18469 | From Violence to Peace | Jimmy Santiago Baca | Twenty-eight shotgun pellets
crater my thighs, belly and groin.
I gently thumb each burnt bead,
fingering scabbed stubs with ointment.
Could have neutered me, made extinct
the volatile, romantic man I am.
“He’s dead,”
doctor at emergency room
could’ve easily told my wife that night.
Instead, “Soak him in a bat... | [
"S2",
"S3",
"S6",
"S8"
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"Nature",
"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/Incarceration & Justice",
"Living/Death & Dying",
"Living/Mourning",
"Relationships/Friendship",
"Relationships/Pets & Domestic Animals"
] |
c8813f848a5fa7e8 | Death and the Powers: A Robot Pageant | Robert Pinsky | Charactersrobot leaderrobot tworobot threerobot foursimon powersmirandaSimon’s daughter from a previous marriage. evvySimon’s third, “final” wife.nicholasSimon’s protégé and adopted son. Prosthetic limbs.the united waythe united nationsthe administrationthe world’s miseries* * *
[The robots roll and lurch and ... | [
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"S6",
"S7"
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"S3-11",
"S6-4"
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"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/War & Conflict",
"Living/Death & Dying"
] |
cec3cc887d2d1d33 | The Rice Fields | Zilka Joseph | Miles of them grow in my carry-on
and travel with me across continents
but the customs officers are suspicious
they eye my old suitcase and ask me to open it Pickles? they ask sniffing deeply
prodding a packet or two
say Sure ma’am you’ve got no jeera or chilies?
... | [
"S3",
"S6",
"S9"
] | [
"S3-8",
"S9-1",
"S9-7"
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"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Activities"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/Race & Ethnicity",
"Activities/Eating & Drinking",
"Activities/Travels & Journeys"
] |
292b62112d488cc5 | A Magic Mountain | Czeslaw Milosz | I don’t remember exactly when Budberg died, it was either two years
ago or three.
The same with Chen. Whether last year or the one before.
Soon after our arrival, Budberg, gently pensive,
Said that in the beginning it is hard to get accustomed,
For here there is no spring or summer, no winter or fall.
“I ke... | [
"S2",
"S10"
] | [
"S2-7",
"S2-10",
"S10-6"
] | [
"Nature",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Poetry & Poets",
"Nature/Weather",
"Nature/Landscapes & Pastorals"
] |
5c0a94fa23b6027c | English | Yusef Komunyakaa | When I was a boy, he says, the sky began burning,
& someone ran knocking on our door
one night. The house became birds
in the eaves too low for a boy's ears.
I heard a girl talking, but they weren't words.
I knew one good thing: a girl
was somewhere in our house,
speaking slow as a sailor's parrot.
I glimpsed A... | [
"S2",
"S3",
"S6",
"S7",
"S8",
"S9",
"S10"
] | [
"S2-9",
"S3-11",
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"S10-5"
] | [
"Nature",
"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity",
"Relationships",
"Activities",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Language & Linguistics",
"Arts & Sciences/Philosophy",
"Nature/Stars, Moons, & Space",
"Social Commentaries/War & Conflict",
"Living/Coming of Age",
"Relationships/Friendship",
"Relationships/Home Life",
"Activities/Travels & Journeys"
] |
78ed29a20976dd5c | Conceit | Michael Schmidt | She spun a line. She knew he was listening to her.
She spun it and he took the fraying ends.
Whatever she was saying, it was cotton,
Then as he rolled the thread between
Forefinger and thumb it turned to silk,
And as he took the needle up to thread it
The line she spun became thin finest gold.
He knew not to bel... | [
"S8"
] | [] | [
"Relationships"
] | [] |
95c77386796af313 | In a landscape of having to repeat | Martha Ronk | In a landscape of having to repeat.
Noticing that she does, that he does and so on.
The underlying cause is as absent as rain.
Yet one remembers rain even in its absence and an attendant quiet.
If illusion descends or the very word you’ve been looking for.
He remembers looking at the photograph,
green and gray sq... | [
"S8"
] | [] | [
"Relationships"
] | [] |
e44da3a8201f9e2f | Boonies | D. A. Powell | Where we could be boys together. This region of want:the campestrial flat. The adolescents roving across the plat.Come hither. He-of-the-hard would call me hither.Sheer abdomen, sheer slickensides, the feldspar buttesthat mammillate the valley right where it needs to bust. And I could kiss his tits and he could destroy... | [
"S1",
"S6",
"S7",
"S8",
"S10"
] | [
"S1-1",
"S8-6",
"S10-5"
] | [
"Love",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity",
"Relationships",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Love/Desire & Erotic Love",
"Arts & Sciences/Philosophy",
"Relationships/LGBTQ+"
] |
052ec7d6feef8ad0 | The Card Tables | Jericho Brown | Stop playing. You do remember the card tables,
Slick stick figures like men with low-cut fades,
Short but standing straight
Because we bent them into weak display.
What didn’t we want? What wouldn’t we claim?
How perfectly each surface was made
For throwing or dropping or slamming a necessary
Portion of our pay.... | [
"S6",
"S9"
] | [
"S9-3"
] | [
"Living",
"Activities"
] | [
"Activities/Indoor Activities"
] |
e7c0b69862505d16 | Chapter Heading | Ernest M. Hemingway | For we have thought the longer thoughts And gone the shorter way. And we have danced to devils’ tunes, Shivering home to pray; To serve one master in the night, Another in the day. | [
"S6"
] | [] | [
"Living"
] | [] |
11bd4f137d0d319e | Money Is Also a Kind of Music | Jason Guriel | The Wrecking Crew was just the cream of the "you pay — we'll play" LA session pool, that crack squad of 50 or 60 musicians...who played on Pet Sounds and Smile and probably half the records in your collection. They didn't just play the chops. They invented them. — Rob Chapman, MOJO
Money is also a kind of music. I don... | [
"S3",
"S4",
"S10"
] | [
"S3-7",
"S4-1",
"S10-3"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"History & Politics",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Music",
"Social Commentaries/Popular Culture",
"History & Politics/Money & Economics"
] |
37f66e957e1abfba | It was a' for our Rightful King | Robert Burns | It was a' for our rightful king That we left fair Scotland's strand; It was a' for our rightful king We e'er saw Irish land, My dear, We e'er saw Irish land. Now a' is done that men can do, And a' is done in vain! My love, and native land, fareweel! For I mau... | [
"S3",
"S4"
] | [
"S3-11"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"History & Politics"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/War & Conflict"
] |
a83c276837ac9701 | Tablets V | Dunya Mikhail | 1
Light falls from her voice
and I try to catch it as the last
light of the day fades ...
But there is no form to touch,
no pain to trace.
2
Are dreams
taking their seats
on the night train?
3
She recites a list of wishes
to keep him from dying.
4
The truth lands like a kiss—
sometimes like a mosquito,
... | [
"S1",
"S2",
"S3",
"S6",
"S7",
"S9",
"S10"
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"S2-8",
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"S6-4",
"S9-7",
"S10-2"
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"Love",
"Nature",
"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity",
"Activities",
"Arts & Sciences"
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"Arts & Sciences/Language & Linguistics",
"Nature/Plants & Fungi",
"Social Commentaries/War & Conflict",
"Living/Death & Dying",
"Activities/Travels & Journeys"
] |
1c23743b75743561 | from Deaf Republic: 2. 9AM Bombardment | Ilya Kaminsky | Running down Vasenka street my clothes in a pillowcaseI was looking for a man who looks exactly like meso I could give him my Sonya, my name, my clothes.Running down Vasenka street with my lips moving,one of those who run from the trolley that bursts like an intestine in the sun,those who lock the door, lock it with th... | [
"S3"
] | [
"S3-11"
] | [
"Social Commentaries"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/War & Conflict"
] |
f6376678697b531d | Amoretti XXX: My Love is like to ice, and I to fire | Edmund Spenser | My Love is like to ice, and I to fire:
How comes it then that this her cold so great
Is not dissolved through my so hot desire,
But harder grows the more I her entreat?
Or how comes it that my exceeding heat
Is not allayed by her heart-frozen cold,
But that I burn much more in boiling sweat,
And feel my flames augmente... | [
"S1"
] | [
"S1-1",
"S1-4",
"S1-7",
"S1-8"
] | [
"Love"
] | [
"Love/Desire & Erotic Love",
"Love/Infatuation & Crushes",
"Love/Romantic Love",
"Love/Classic Love"
] |
0346ae132f5e7df8 | Why Some Girls Love Horses | Paisley Rekdal | And then I thought, Can I have more
of this, would it be possible
for every day to be a greater awakening: more light,
more light, your face on the pillow
with the sleep creases rudely
fragmenting it, hair so stiff
from paint and sheet rock it feels
like the dirty short hank
of mane I used to grab on Dandy’s ne... | [
"S2",
"S6",
"S8",
"S9",
"S10"
] | [
"S2-5",
"S6-3",
"S8-8",
"S9-5",
"S10-5"
] | [
"Nature",
"Living",
"Relationships",
"Activities",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Philosophy",
"Nature/Animals",
"Living/Coming of Age",
"Relationships/Pets & Domestic Animals",
"Activities/Sports & Outdoor Activities"
] |
b473310449fb8a07 | Brasil | Farnoosh Fathi | Left a hole on fire agony or was it the sun
on the banks and near duets?
Eagles with the white wine of the sun
clink and spill, tall
grass over head and heels
. . . Space of hell: shy, inscribed already
but alone— I think I can be that
again, a new hole in the ongoing flute.
In a leap, the country glows— to hon... | [
"S1"
] | [
"S1-1",
"S1-6"
] | [
"Love"
] | [
"Love/Desire & Erotic Love",
"Love/Realistic & Complicated"
] |
0ad6b78734db6daf | The Pains of Sleep | Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Ere on my bed my limbs I lay,
It hath not been my use to pray
With moving lips or bended knees;
But silently, by slow degrees,
My spirit I to Love compose,
In humble trust mine eye-lids close,
With reverential resignation
No wish conceived, no thought exprest,
Only a sense of supplication;
A sense o'er all my soul impr... | [
"S1",
"S5",
"S6",
"S8"
] | [
"S1-6",
"S5-3",
"S6-5"
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"Love",
"Religion",
"Living",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Love/Realistic & Complicated",
"Religion/Faith & Doubt",
"Living/Mourning"
] |
242bd14e98e2c8de | My Weather | Jane Hirshfield | Wakeful, sleepy, hungry, anxious,restless, stunned, relieved.Does a tree also?A mountain?A cup holds sugar, flour, three large rabbit-breaths of air.I hold these. | [
"S6"
] | [] | [
"Living"
] | [] |
43b89dd74984bbb9 | Politics | William Meredith | Tonight Hazard’s father and stepmother are having
jazz for McGovern. In the old game-room
the old liberals listen as the quintet builds
crazy houses out of skin and brass, crumbling
the house of decorum, everybody likes that.
For decades they have paid for the refurbishing
of America and they have not got their m... | [
"S3",
"S4",
"S6",
"S8",
"S9"
] | [
"S8-3",
"S8-5",
"S8-7",
"S9-1",
"S9-4"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"History & Politics",
"Living",
"Relationships",
"Activities"
] | [
"Relationships/Family & Ancestors",
"Relationships/Home Life",
"Relationships/Marriage & Companionship",
"Activities/Eating & Drinking",
"Activities/Jobs & Working"
] |
66f5c756db502d9c | Two Stones with One Bird | Charles Bernstein | Re- demption comes & redemp- tion goes but trans- ience is here for- ever. | [
"S6",
"S7",
"S10"
] | [
"S10-2"
] | [
"Living",
"Time & Brevity",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Language & Linguistics"
] |
7ffe165490402386 | Conduct | Samuel Greenberg | By a peninsula the painter sat and Sketched the uneven valley groves. The apostle gave alms to the Meek. The volcano burst In fusive sulphur and hurled Rocks and ore into the air— Heaven’s sudden change at The drawing tempestuous, Darkening shade of dense clouded hues. The wanderer soon chose His spot of rest; they bo... | [
"S2",
"S10"
] | [
"S2-2",
"S2-6",
"S10-4"
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"Nature",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Painting & Sculpture",
"Nature/Summer",
"Nature/Bodies of Water"
] |
58157b3cec254636 | The Snow-Storm | Ralph Waldo Emerson | Announced by all the trumpets of the sky, Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields, Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven, And veils the farm-house at the garden's end. The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemat... | [
"S2"
] | [
"S2-4",
"S2-7",
"S2-10"
] | [
"Nature"
] | [
"Nature/Weather",
"Nature/Winter",
"Nature/Landscapes & Pastorals"
] |
0b00371f605296ed | "Our sweet companions-sharing your bunk and your bed" | Marina Tsvetaeva | Our sweet companions—sharing your bunk and your bed
The versts and the versts and the versts and a hunk of your bread
The wheels' endless round
The rivers, streaming to ground
The road. . .
Oh the heavenly the Gypsy the early dawn light
Remember the breeze in the morning, the steppe silver-bright
Wisps of blue s... | [
"S2",
"S10"
] | [] | [
"Nature",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [] |
6c41ee8d644d9074 | Shorter American Memory of the Declaration of Independence | Rosmarie Waldrop | We holler these trysts to be self-exiled that all manatees are credited equi-distant, that they are endured by their Creditor with cervical unanswerable rims. that among these are lightning, lice, and the pushcart of harakiri. That to seduce these rims, graces are insulated among manatees, descanting their juvenile pra... | [
"S3",
"S4",
"S10"
] | [
"S10-2"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"History & Politics",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Language & Linguistics"
] |
aceb88f488f5e3b4 | In Memoriam Mae Noblitt | A. R. Ammons | This is just a place:
we go around, distanced,
yearly in a star’s
atmosphere, turning
daily into and out of
direct light and
slanting through the
quadrant seasons: deep
space begins at our
heels, nearly rousing
us loose: we look up
or out so high, sight’s
silk almost draws us away:
this is just a place:
c... | [
"S2",
"S6",
"S7"
] | [] | [
"Nature",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity"
] | [] |
7efc207e422e48f1 | The Work | Allen Grossman | A great light is the man who knows the woman he loves
A great light is the woman who knows the man she loves
And carries the light into room after room arousing
The sleepers and looking hard into the face of each
And then sends them asleep again with a kiss
Or a whole night of love
... | [
"S1",
"S3",
"S8"
] | [
"S1-1",
"S1-7",
"S3-4"
] | [
"Love",
"Social Commentaries",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Love/Desire & Erotic Love",
"Love/Romantic Love",
"Social Commentaries/Gender & Sexuality"
] |
b1851f2813335e17 | Hall of Records | Peter Spagnuolo | There’s a clever thing, stabs at her handon every corner now, revising the screed. Watch her huff at the tiny screens that sendher chimpish copy up the line, to speedthe raising of the giddy, pixelled hall: cornerless, mirror-tiled, the gorging spherea fast-receding shell enclosing allwe say or see, never to disappear,... | [
"S6",
"S7"
] | [] | [
"Living",
"Time & Brevity"
] | [] |
cfac211af52e281d | Emerald Spider Between Rose Thorns | Dean Young | Imagine, not even or really ever tastinga peach until well over 50, not oncesympathizing with Blake naked in his gardeninsisting on angels until getting off the tableand coming home with my new heart. How absurdto still have a body in this rainbow-gored,crickety world and how ridiculous to be given onein the first plac... | [
"S6",
"S7"
] | [
"S6-1",
"S6-6"
] | [
"Living",
"Time & Brevity"
] | [
"Living/Aging",
"Living/Health & Illness"
] |
bf0fcee444d2a46c | Bear | Reginald Gibbons | Honey-sweet song
—Pindar
Standing, leaning, with both long-
clawed paws she rips punk
wood out of a tree with
a high hollow to get
at her cause inside—her sharp brute
parentheses tear at the living
humming word. The honey
the tree has helped the bees
hide has drawn her near with
its scent. Forcing the issue,... | [
"S2",
"S10"
] | [
"S2-5",
"S10-6"
] | [
"Nature",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Poetry & Poets",
"Nature/Animals"
] |
56af85a2905848c4 | Enoch’s Blocks | Olivia Clare | Little Enoch learned his colors from lettered blocks(for a is the color of fleet,b is the color of war and demolition,c is the color of echo and blur,&c.) and builta bricolage:So cab was a whirring warbler.bach was the Spanish Armada crashing and crashing.And enoch he couldn’t descr... | [
"S3",
"S6"
] | [
"S3-11",
"S6-3"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Living"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/War & Conflict",
"Living/Coming of Age"
] |
221cdc810cdb2df2 | Camera Obscura | Simon Armitage | Eight-year-old sitting in Bramhall’s field,shoes scuffed from kicking a stone,too young for a key but old enough nowto walk the short mile back from school.You’ve spied your mother down in the villagecrossing the street, purse in her fist.In her other hand her shopping bag nursesfour ugly potatoes caked in mud,a boilin... | [
"S3",
"S6",
"S8",
"S9",
"S10"
] | [
"S3-2",
"S8-3",
"S9-6",
"S10-5"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Relationships",
"Activities",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Philosophy",
"Social Commentaries/Class & Labor",
"Relationships/Family & Ancestors",
"Activities/Study & Knowledge"
] |
3a1800512f4087ad | At the Hour of Closing | Moses ibn Ezra | Lord of wondrous workings,grant us understanding— now at the hour of closing.
A chosen few are called,
their eyes toward you lifting—
they stand exalted in their trembling now, at the hour of closing.
They pour forth their souls;
erase, then, their straying—
and grant them, Lord, your absoluti... | [
"S5"
] | [
"S5-6"
] | [
"Religion"
] | [
"Religion/Judaism"
] |
8f74625c7e0145db | Kaymakamlar Gezi Evi, Selamlik Odasi | Sasha Steensen | This is the room.
Where mole guests are welcomed.
At this moment you see the wedding table prepared for the mole guests.
Rooms are heated with stoves.
Rooms have been designed according to the patriarchal way of living.
The family has, consists of, father, mather, sons and brides.
There is no sex discrimination w... | [
"S3",
"S8",
"S10"
] | [
"S3-4",
"S8-3",
"S8-5",
"S10-2"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Relationships",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Language & Linguistics",
"Social Commentaries/Gender & Sexuality",
"Relationships/Family & Ancestors",
"Relationships/Home Life"
] |
a6c17ef95b2585ff | My Death | Tim Dlugos | when I no longer
feel it breathing down
my neck it's just around
the corner (hi neighbor) | [
"S6"
] | [
"S6-4"
] | [
"Living"
] | [
"Living/Death & Dying"
] |
9361dc796362f815 | To Love as Aswang | Barbara Jane Reyes | With razorblade eyes The Filipina is most sincereWith too much water And will make a very good wife.With animal teeth The Filipina is a loyal partner,We sometimes kill Deserving of all your love.With splintered hands ... | [
"S3",
"S6",
"S11"
] | [
"S3-4",
"S3-8",
"S6-4",
"S11-2"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Mythology & Folklore"
] | [
"Mythology & Folklore/Ghosts & the Supernatural",
"Social Commentaries/Gender & Sexuality",
"Social Commentaries/Race & Ethnicity",
"Living/Death & Dying"
] |
ef4b12b3c6b5edd8 | First Fall | Maggie Smith | I’m your guide here. In the evening-dark
morning streets, I point and name.
Look, the sycamores, their mottled,
paint-by-number bark. Look, the leaves
rusting and crisping at the edges.
I walk through Schiller Park with you
on my chest. Stars smolder well
into daylight. Look, the pond, the ducks,
the dogs paddl... | [
"S2",
"S6",
"S8"
] | [
"S2-3",
"S6-7",
"S8-3"
] | [
"Nature",
"Living",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Nature/Fall",
"Living/Parenthood",
"Relationships/Family & Ancestors"
] |
dcec369c7939320d | Marriage Morning | Alfred, Lord Tennyson | Light, so low upon earth, You send a flash to the sun. Here is the golden close of love, All my wooing is done. Oh, all the woods and the meadows, Woods, where we hid from the wet, Stiles where we stayed to be kind, Meadows in which we met! Light, so low in the vale You flash and lighten afar, For this i... | [
"S1"
] | [
"S1-7"
] | [
"Love"
] | [
"Love/Romantic Love"
] |
b23919c3d0d49c99 | Order | Linda Kunhardt | A narrow girl sells purses made of reed.Dead rabbits hang by feet, their red eyes dull, while chickens crammed in cages peck their seed.A vessel in Juan’s brain begins to bleed,spreading into the fissures of his skull.A narrow girl sells purses made of reed.The madams in the district underfeedhookers they line up for a... | [
"S3"
] | [
"S3-2"
] | [
"Social Commentaries"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/Class & Labor"
] |
116205f1149cf899 | About My Birthday | Marie Ponsot | I’d like to assume from my April birthday, I quickened the womb on the 4th of July. If you suffered as I a sternly fought tendency to endless dependency you’d know why. | [
"S6"
] | [] | [
"Living"
] | [] |
de374e07e04e7d10 | My Lover Who Lives Far | Camille T. Dungy | My lover, who lives far away, opens the door to my room
and offers supper in a bowl made of his breath.
The stew has boiled and I wonder at the cat born from its steam.
The cat is in the bedroom now, mewling. The cat is indecent
and I, who am trying to be tidy, I, who am trying to do things
... | [
"S1",
"S3",
"S8"
] | [
"S1-6",
"S3-4",
"S8-1",
"S8-5",
"S8-8"
] | [
"Love",
"Social Commentaries",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Love/Realistic & Complicated",
"Social Commentaries/Gender & Sexuality",
"Relationships/Breakups & Separation",
"Relationships/Home Life",
"Relationships/Pets & Domestic Animals"
] |
7ae1ec461746e6e3 | a 340 dollar horse and a hundred dollar whore | Charles Bukowski | don’t ever get the idea I am a poet; you can see me
at the racetrack any day half drunk
betting quarters, sidewheelers and straight thoroughs,
but let me tell you, there are some women there
who go where the money goes, and sometimes when you
look at these whores these onehundreddollar whores
you wonder sometimes... | [
"S3",
"S8",
"S9",
"S10"
] | [
"S3-4",
"S8-8",
"S9-5",
"S10-6"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Relationships",
"Activities",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Poetry & Poets",
"Social Commentaries/Gender & Sexuality",
"Relationships/Pets & Domestic Animals",
"Activities/Sports & Outdoor Activities"
] |
13201a2fd395a3b0 | Bravery | Todd Boss | A rung’s come broken in the ladder to the mowand so one hesitates to clamber up therejust to bomb a cowwith dung or bother swallows from their rafter cakes. It takesa new footing some-where in the ribs’ treads, about heart- height, to climb it now. A new gap’s inthe smile that smilesfrom the limed barn floor. There see... | [
"S3",
"S6",
"S10"
] | [
"S3-9",
"S10-5"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Philosophy",
"Social Commentaries/Rural & Country Life"
] |
ef4a25acba021fb5 | See It Through | Edgar Albert Guest | When you’re up against a trouble, Meet it squarely, face to face; Lift your chin and set your shoulders, Plant your feet and take a brace. When it’s vain to try to dodge it, Do the best that you can do; You may fail, but you may conquer, See it through! Black may be the clouds about you And your fut... | [
"S6",
"S9"
] | [] | [
"Living",
"Activities"
] | [] |
e3e84d0c6d632f28 | The Good-Morrow | John Donne | I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then? But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den? ’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be. If ever any beauty I did see, Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee. And now good-mo... | [
"S1",
"S8"
] | [
"S1-5",
"S1-6",
"S1-7"
] | [
"Love",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Love/New Love",
"Love/Realistic & Complicated",
"Love/Romantic Love"
] |
e0c784ebb7da8133 | To the Rain | Ursula K. Le Guin | Mother rain, manifold, measureless,
falling on fallow, on field and forest,
on house-roof, low hovel, high tower,
downwelling waters all-washing, wider
than cities, softer than sisterhood, vaster
than countrysides, calming, recalling:
return to us, teaching our troubled
souls in your ceaseless descent
to fall, ... | [
"S2"
] | [
"S2-10"
] | [
"Nature"
] | [
"Nature/Weather"
] |
5ec307df8f3be9a5 | The Castaway | William Cowper | Obscurest night involv'd the sky, Th' Atlantic billows roar'd, When such a destin'd wretch as I, Wash'd headlong from on board, Of friends, of hope, of all bereft, His floating home for ever left. No braver chief could Albion boast Than he with whom he went, Nor ever ship left Albion's coast,... | [
"S2",
"S6",
"S8",
"S10"
] | [
"S2-6",
"S6-4",
"S6-5",
"S8-4",
"S10-6"
] | [
"Nature",
"Living",
"Relationships",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Poetry & Poets",
"Nature/Bodies of Water",
"Living/Death & Dying",
"Living/Mourning",
"Relationships/Friendship"
] |
6221dcf563cbb694 | Here | Joshua Mehigan | Nothing has changed. They have a welcome sign,a hill with cows and a white house on top,a mall and grocery store where people shop,a diner where some people go to dine.It is the same no matter where you go,and downtown you will find no big surprises.Each fall the dew point falls until it rises.White snow, green buds, g... | [
"S3",
"S6",
"S7"
] | [] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity"
] | [] |
5752f7591fd2c8ca | Belonging as Consequence: On Poetry | Prageeta Sharma | It was just a momentary untruth in my way,
bodies of the crowd blocked the big blue outside.
Now I have a stealthy cause: to try and be myself,
to further a personal idea of arrangement,
of how to use those thoughts, the ones that don't get used.
But how to let them tick without abuse.
How to repay the debt, use ... | [
"S6",
"S10"
] | [
"S10-6"
] | [
"Living",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Poetry & Poets"
] |
9d2ca31490232beb | The One-Year-Old Lemon Tree | W. S. Di Piero | Its small celestial reach stops
where the counterweight, the first
tough green fruit, pulls earthward
and returns the brazen, almost rank perfume
of blossoms now six months gone.
The slurred odor of its leaves
calls back that long evening’s end:
we shivered in the cool lig... | [
"S2"
] | [
"S2-8"
] | [
"Nature"
] | [
"Nature/Plants & Fungi"
] |
15bb1393007fc94c | Peace | Henry Vaughan | My Soul, there is a country
Afar beyond the stars,
Where stands a winged sentry
All skillful in the wars;
There, above noise and danger
Sweet Peace sits, crown’d with smiles,
And One born in a manger
Commands the beauteous files.
He is thy gracious friend
And (O my Soul awake!)
Did in pure love... | [
"S5"
] | [
"S5-2",
"S5-4"
] | [
"Religion"
] | [
"Religion/Christianity",
"Religion/God & the Divine"
] |
72d564f3ab2d86f4 | Summer | Joanna Fuhrman | The host's girlfriend is barely seen.
She's busy giving away
wild animals to reluctant guests.
I agree to take a snake-dog,
maybe an electric eel, but when
I feel its sharp teeth in my shoulder,
I start to worry about
the future welfare of our fragile cat,
the precarious order of our rented home,... | [
"S2",
"S6",
"S7",
"S9"
] | [
"S2-5",
"S6-4",
"S9-3"
] | [
"Nature",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity",
"Activities"
] | [
"Nature/Animals",
"Living/Death & Dying",
"Activities/Indoor Activities"
] |
c2ca07106ff74a9d | Light and Dark | Barbara Howes | Lady, take care; for in the diamond eyes
Of old old men is figured your undoing;
Love is turned in behind the wrinkled lids
To nurse their fear and scorn at their near going.
Flesh hangs like the curtains in a house
Long unused, damp as cellars without wine;
They are the future of us all, when we
Will be dried-l... | [
"S6",
"S7"
] | [
"S6-1"
] | [
"Living",
"Time & Brevity"
] | [
"Living/Aging"
] |
0209bec1d1ad33f1 | The truth about Palmerston North | Tim Upperton | People like to mock my town, they mock it
for being too provincial and too boring
and it’s true, not much of import happens here
but I don’t mind. Some people say, when they are asked
what they like about Palmerston North,
that you can always find a park and that’s true,
too, you can always find a park just a sho... | [
"S2",
"S9"
] | [
"S2-5",
"S2-7",
"S9-7"
] | [
"Nature",
"Activities"
] | [
"Nature/Animals",
"Nature/Landscapes & Pastorals",
"Activities/Travels & Journeys"
] |
f1cd39d015167453 | How many times these low feet staggered (238) | Emily Dickinson | How many times these low feet staggered -
Only the soldered mouth can tell -
Try - can you stir the awful rivet -
Try - can you lift the hasps of steel!
Stroke the cool forehead - hot so often -
Lift - if you care - the listless hair -
Handle the adamantine fingers
Never a thimble - more - shall wear -
Buzz the... | [
"S6"
] | [
"S6-4"
] | [
"Living"
] | [
"Living/Death & Dying"
] |
2b827fd185571326 | The Idea of Revelation | Tina Chang | It wasn't holy so let us not praise gods.
Let us not look to them for bread,
nor the cup that changed water to wine.
Let us look to the bend of the road
that reaches. A silver blur across
the skyline, woman standing on the farm.
In her grasp, the shine that is seed,
that is beginning. She will work
the earth, b... | [
"S1",
"S3",
"S6",
"S7",
"S8"
] | [
"S1-3",
"S3-4",
"S6-5"
] | [
"Love",
"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Love/Heartache & Loss",
"Social Commentaries/Gender & Sexuality",
"Living/Mourning"
] |
d6dc023e4a4570c9 | Horses in Snow | Roberta Hill | They are a gift I have wanted again.
Wanted: One moment in mountains
when winter got so cold
the oil froze before it could burn.
I chopped ferns of hoarfrost from all the windows
and peered up at pines, a wedding cake
by a baker gone mad. Swirls by the thousand
shimmered above me until a cloud
lumbered over a r... | [
"S1",
"S2",
"S3",
"S6",
"S7",
"S8"
] | [
"S1-3",
"S1-6",
"S2-3",
"S2-4",
"S2-5",
"S3-4",
"S6-4",
"S6-5",
"S8-8"
] | [
"Love",
"Nature",
"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Love/Heartache & Loss",
"Love/Realistic & Complicated",
"Nature/Fall",
"Nature/Winter",
"Nature/Animals",
"Social Commentaries/Gender & Sexuality",
"Living/Death & Dying",
"Living/Mourning",
"Relationships/Pets & Domestic Animals"
] |
22bc0e5d7d2823d0 | Somewhere Holy | Carl Phillips | for Erin, for others
There are places in this world where
you can stand somewhere holy and be
thinking If it’s holy then why don’t
I feel it, something, and while waiting,
like it will any moment happen and
maybe this is it, a man accosts you,
half in his tongue, half in yours, he
asks if maybe you are wanting ... | [
"S5"
] | [
"S5-3"
] | [
"Religion"
] | [
"Religion/Faith & Doubt"
] |
c49a6d1ff8031950 | Sonnet 7: How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth | John Milton | How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stol'n on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth
That I to manhood am arriv'd so near;
And inward rip... | [
"S6",
"S7"
] | [
"S6-3"
] | [
"Living",
"Time & Brevity"
] | [
"Living/Coming of Age"
] |
ad3d220433e0a1e6 | The Description of Cooke-ham | Æmilia Lanyer | Farewell (sweet Cooke-ham) where I first obtained Grace from that grace where perfect grace remained; And where the muses gave their full consent, I should have power the virtuous to content; Where princely palace willed me to indite, The sacred story of the soul’s delight. Farewell (sweet place) where virtue then did ... | [
"S5",
"S6",
"S7",
"S8",
"S9"
] | [
"S5-2",
"S8-5",
"S9-1"
] | [
"Religion",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity",
"Relationships",
"Activities"
] | [
"Religion/Christianity",
"Relationships/Home Life",
"Activities/Eating & Drinking"
] |
61ceda5947dc1ae3 | Placa/Rollcall | Brenda Cárdenas | Placa/Rollcall, 1980, by Charles “Chaz” Bojórquez
If the city was a body, graffiti would tell us where it hurts.— Charles “Chaz” Bojórquez
And this block would shout, “Nos diste un chingaso, cabrón. Mira esta cara rota, these baton-cracked ribs, this black and blue street dizzy con gente: blades, kiki, larry, snow, e... | [
"S3",
"S6"
] | [
"S3-1",
"S3-8",
"S6-4"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Living"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/Cities & Urban Life",
"Social Commentaries/Race & Ethnicity",
"Living/Death & Dying"
] |
58a8c2d2ac6842d6 | from Idylls of the King: The Last Tournament | Alfred, Lord Tennyson | Dagonet, the fool, whom Gawain in his mood Had made mock-knight of Arthur's Table Round, At Camelot, high above the yellowing woods, Danced like a wither'd leaf before the hall. And toward him from the hall, with harp in hand, And from the crown thereof a carcanet Of ruby swaying to and fro, the prize Of Tristram in th... | [
"S1",
"S8",
"S11"
] | [
"S1-1",
"S1-6",
"S11-1",
"S11-4"
] | [
"Love",
"Relationships",
"Mythology & Folklore"
] | [
"Love/Desire & Erotic Love",
"Love/Realistic & Complicated",
"Mythology & Folklore/Fairy-tales & Legends",
"Mythology & Folklore/Heroes & Patriotism"
] |
8017770a45f8468f | my poem | Lucille Clifton | a love person
from love people
out of the afrikan sun
under the sign of cancer.
whoever see my
midnight smile
seeing star apple and
mango from home.
whoever take me for
a negative thing,
his death be on him
like a skin
and his skin
be his heart’s revenge.
*
lucy one-eye
she got her mama’s ways.
big rou... | [
"S3",
"S6",
"S8"
] | [
"S3-4",
"S3-8",
"S6-3",
"S8-3"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/Gender & Sexuality",
"Social Commentaries/Race & Ethnicity",
"Living/Coming of Age",
"Relationships/Family & Ancestors"
] |
e3c81771387bb13c | Nameless Pain | Elizabeth Drew Barstow Stoddard | I should be happy with my lot: A wife and mother – is it not Enough for me to be content? What other blessing could be sent? A quiet house, and homely ways, That make each day like other days; I only see Time’s shadow now Darken the hair on baby’s brow! No world’s work ever comes to me, No beggar brings his misery; I h... | [
"S3",
"S8",
"S9",
"S10"
] | [
"S3-4",
"S8-5",
"S9-4"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Relationships",
"Activities",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/Gender & Sexuality",
"Relationships/Home Life",
"Activities/Jobs & Working"
] |
9d101eb1c23f1fcb | series 2 | Mark Tardi | instead of entrance
Goodbye means Avoir
Sved’s dream said from nowhere
of aliquant angles
some spindle of the sun
empirically facted
deafening skin
open and afterwards
a cough is a couch
idled into
without rain
an island
easily a third worse
Indigo with a flame-red tongue | [
"S2"
] | [
"S2-7"
] | [
"Nature"
] | [
"Nature/Landscapes & Pastorals"
] |
a7f1bc6459bd82be | Victory, WI | Lisa Ampleman | All hail the crumbling stone monument to the Battle of Bad Axe, the wooden helvelong rotted and burned, the short walk to the river,where we can bathe in its brown,where a steamboat ghost huffs out a stream of bullets. We are invulnerableto their spectral lead, descendants of fur traders (beaver, ermine,skunk). Our lun... | [
"S3",
"S4",
"S6",
"S7"
] | [
"S3-11"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"History & Politics",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/War & Conflict"
] |
a4598f21eaba4d5f | The Tooth | Heather Christle | Two men share
one tooth. From
one tooth the men
predict the world.
Thank you! or
we would not exist.
Two men and one
tooth is not a problem.
One man is wide
and one man is sober.
Sometimes the men are
the same. Little tooth
is the light of the
orchard. From
it all things are
made up. Once
the two men lo... | [
"S11"
] | [
"S11-1"
] | [
"Mythology & Folklore"
] | [
"Mythology & Folklore/Fairy-tales & Legends"
] |
316700b948b1cba9 | Equestrian Monuments (A Litany) | Luis Chaves | Out-of-focus photographs
in front of equestrian monuments.
The fog of the drug,
low-impact anecdotes
and scenes from badly dubbed films.
With this we arrive at our 40s
and we shouldn’t be ungrateful.
It could be worse.
•
The year ending
with the month of parakeets
who didn’t let anyone sleep
with their deme... | [
"S3",
"S5",
"S6",
"S7",
"S10"
] | [
"S3-4",
"S5-4",
"S5-8",
"S6-7",
"S10-5"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Religion",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Philosophy",
"Social Commentaries/Gender & Sexuality",
"Religion/God & the Divine",
"Religion/The Spiritual",
"Living/Parenthood"
] |
3f1eba78fe181cf1 | Letter Beginning with Two Lines by Czesław Miłosz | Matthew Olzmann | You whom I could not save,Listen to me.
Can we agree Kevlar
backpacks shouldn’t be needed
for children walking to school?
Those same children
also shouldn’t require a suit
of armor when standing
on their front lawns, or snipers
to watch their backs
as they eat at McDonalds.
They shouldn’t have to stop
to con... | [
"S3",
"S4",
"S6",
"S9"
] | [
"S3-6",
"S6-8",
"S9-6"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"History & Politics",
"Living",
"Activities"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/Incarceration & Justice",
"Living/Youth",
"Activities/Study & Knowledge"
] |
06165f79447450f9 | The Invention of the Interstate System | Mira Rosenthal | begins in dirt, clumps of Queen Anne’s lace, bindweed unfurling its moons in the morningto start somewhere to perform one’s certain act of failure
begins as still life with foliage and road
one man with a shovel, digging one measure-full of map, a clump resting heavy on his blade
one woman in a house up the grade l... | [
"S3",
"S4",
"S8",
"S9"
] | [
"S9-7"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"History & Politics",
"Relationships",
"Activities"
] | [
"Activities/Travels & Journeys"
] |
71b88b567aad867d | A Great Beauty | Cyrus Cassells | And when her son never returned
from the meant-to-crush-him camps,
the crucible of Poland,
always-hard-at-work Isa slept
for endless hours,
and once, under her lids, she was led,
by diligent female Virgils,
to a vast meadow
where an inspirited Isa embraced,
one by one,
countless women who remained
in mournin... | [
"S3"
] | [
"S3-11"
] | [
"Social Commentaries"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/War & Conflict"
] |
a2884cb27eadab99 | John Scotus Eriugena at Laon | Jacques Darras | 1
An Ireland, as of chalk, the sky
standing in for the sea, the beach
a reach of blue, the vineyards’
green scooped out in cirque,
in cove, a subtlety of air laps
the eyes, abob like barques
come from afar, and the viator
standing there, poised to dis-
embark, the undercurrent of air
escaping him, tossed to &... | [
"S2",
"S3",
"S9",
"S10"
] | [
"S2-5",
"S2-6",
"S2-7",
"S3-8",
"S9-7",
"S10-5",
"S10-6"
] | [
"Nature",
"Social Commentaries",
"Activities",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Philosophy",
"Arts & Sciences/Poetry & Poets",
"Nature/Animals",
"Nature/Bodies of Water",
"Nature/Landscapes & Pastorals",
"Social Commentaries/Race & Ethnicity",
"Activities/Travels & Journeys"
] |
0f44d5860766fa51 | Melting Pot | Bin Ramke | “Who are you to tell us how to live or why,
et cetera?” No Man, of course, and not so tall
as is the current fashion, nor smart enough
in the acceptable modern way, to enthrall
the crowd with stories of my life among
the savages where I was home and growing
baffled day by day, raging through the night
as if it... | [
"S1",
"S3",
"S4",
"S5",
"S8"
] | [
"S3-4",
"S3-8",
"S5-2",
"S8-3"
] | [
"Love",
"Social Commentaries",
"History & Politics",
"Religion",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/Gender & Sexuality",
"Social Commentaries/Race & Ethnicity",
"Religion/Christianity",
"Relationships/Family & Ancestors"
] |
f201becc7b964460 | Market Forecast | Alexa Selph | Adjectives continue their downward spiral, with adverbs likely to follow. Wisdom, grace, and beauty can be had three for a dollar, as they head for a recession. Diaphanous, filigree, pearlescent, and love are now available at wholesale prices. Verbs are still blue-chip investments, but not many are willing to sell. The... | [
"S3",
"S4",
"S10"
] | [
"S4-1",
"S10-6"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"History & Politics",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Poetry & Poets",
"History & Politics/Money & Economics"
] |
f1256e7a98992222 | Smokers of Paper | Cesare Pavese | He’s brought me to hear his band. He sits in a corner
mouthing his clarinet. A hellish racket begins.
Outside, through flashes of lightning, wind gusts
and rain whips, knocking the lights out
every five minutes. In the dark, their faces
give it their all, contorted, as they play a dance tune
from memory. Full of ... | [
"S3",
"S4",
"S9",
"S10"
] | [
"S9-4",
"S10-3"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"History & Politics",
"Activities",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Music",
"Activities/Jobs & Working"
] |
54613a664a098da2 | Be More Like Sputnik Monroe | W. Todd Kaneko | It's hard to be humble when you're 235 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal with a body women love and men fear. —Sputnik Monroe
When my father died, he left me a trove
of video tapes, a warped memorial
for those men he watched with my mother
before she left for parts unknown,
for those fig... | [
"S1",
"S3",
"S8"
] | [
"S1-6",
"S3-4",
"S8-3"
] | [
"Love",
"Social Commentaries",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Love/Realistic & Complicated",
"Social Commentaries/Gender & Sexuality",
"Relationships/Family & Ancestors"
] |
106d0174495de767 | A Red Tricycle in the Belly of the Pool | Karyna McGlynn | the live oak over the nursery got a disease
they could only save one limb
it wasn’t surprising; it wasn’t that kind of nursery
a girl rode her red tricycle around the bottom of the pool
the pool had no water; it hadn’t rained
the girl kept smelling her hand
it smelled like honeywheat, or the inside of a girl’s pa... | [
"S6",
"S10"
] | [
"S10-5"
] | [
"Living",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Philosophy"
] |
bd02c4a2f7dc46d0 | Sonnets from the Portuguese 20: Beloved, my Beloved, when I think | Elizabeth Barrett Browning | Beloved, my Beloved, when I think That thou wast in the world a year ago, What time I sate alone here in the snow And saw no footprint, heard the silence sink No moment at thy voice ... but, link by link, Went counting all my chains, as if that so They never could fall off at any blow Struck by thy possible hand ... wh... | [
"S1",
"S5",
"S8"
] | [
"S1-7",
"S5-3"
] | [
"Love",
"Religion",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Love/Romantic Love",
"Religion/Faith & Doubt"
] |
611e0c953811a03e | I have to tell you | Dorothea Grossman | I have to tell you, there are times when the sun strikes me like a gong, and I remember everything, even your ears. | [
"S1",
"S8"
] | [
"S1-4",
"S1-7"
] | [
"Love",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Love/Infatuation & Crushes",
"Love/Romantic Love"
] |
86d1574986eb948a | Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes | William Shakespeare | When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
W... | [
"S1",
"S6",
"S8"
] | [
"S1-6",
"S1-7",
"S1-8"
] | [
"Love",
"Living",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Love/Realistic & Complicated",
"Love/Romantic Love",
"Love/Classic Love"
] |
ede4b511a9d0855d | September 2011 | Elizabeth Seydel Morgan | It keeps on happening again and it willbe forgotten again until it’s September.We’re in the tall building paying the billoverdue to the city for gas to fuel our furnace. We’re thinking November—it keeps on happening again—and we’llneed heat. Now it’s still summer, too hot untilfall to turn off the AC. Considerthat othe... | [
"S3",
"S4"
] | [
"S3-1",
"S3-2",
"S4-1"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"History & Politics"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/Cities & Urban Life",
"Social Commentaries/Class & Labor",
"History & Politics/Money & Economics"
] |
6b433f6452bdeb9c | Second Estrangement | Aracelis Girmay | Please raise your hand,
whomever else of you
has been a child,
lost, in a market
or a mall, without
knowing it at first, following
a stranger, accidentally
thinking he is yours,
your family or parent, even
grabbing for his hands,
even calling the word
you said then for “Father,”
only to see the face
look s... | [
"S6"
] | [
"S6-8"
] | [
"Living"
] | [
"Living/Youth"
] |
3168ea60c40120c2 | Sonnets from the Portuguese 22: When our two souls stand up erect and strong | Elizabeth Barrett Browning | When our two souls stand up erect and strong, Face to face, silent, drawing nigh and nigher, Until the lengthening wings break into fire At either curvéd point, — what bitter wrong Can the earth do to us, that we should not long Be here contented ? Think. In mounting higher, The angels would press on us, and aspire To ... | [
"S1",
"S2",
"S5",
"S6",
"S7",
"S8"
] | [
"S1-6",
"S1-7",
"S2-9",
"S5-2"
] | [
"Love",
"Nature",
"Religion",
"Living",
"Time & Brevity",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Love/Realistic & Complicated",
"Love/Romantic Love",
"Nature/Stars, Moons, & Space",
"Religion/Christianity"
] |
0e35183300388857 | the bear was born | Julian Talamantez Brolaski | the bear was born
thrown from its side by killer-of-enemies
its rage scratched open several rivers and the gulf of mexico
an aspect so to speke
made fulsomely as it were one
whos habitat
full somely made
reaches all its leaves and feathers to the smoky air
a tanager on an elm in oahu
really reminded of the gra... | [
"S2",
"S5"
] | [
"S2-5",
"S2-7",
"S5-8"
] | [
"Nature",
"Religion"
] | [
"Nature/Animals",
"Nature/Landscapes & Pastorals",
"Religion/The Spiritual"
] |
7fb39cfdf97c6f54 | The Letter From Home | Nancyrose Houston | The dogs barked, the dogs scratched, the dogs got wet, the dogs shook, the dogs circled, the dogs slept, the dogs ate, the dogs barked; the rain fell down, the leaves fell down, the eggs fell down and cracked on the floor; the dust settled, the wood floors were scratched, the cabinets sat without doors, the trim witho... | [
"S6",
"S7",
"S8",
"S9"
] | [
"S8-5",
"S9-3"
] | [
"Living",
"Time & Brevity",
"Relationships",
"Activities"
] | [
"Relationships/Home Life",
"Activities/Indoor Activities"
] |
494a88a49556fae4 | Twilight | Rae Armantrout | Where there’s smoke
there are mirrors
and a dry ice machine,
industrial quality fans.
If I’ve learned anything
about the present moment
•
But who doesn’t
love a flame,
the way one leaps
into being
full-fledged,
then leans over
to chat
•
Already the light
is retrospective,
sourceless,
is losing itself... | [
"S2"
] | [
"S2-8"
] | [
"Nature"
] | [
"Nature/Plants & Fungi"
] |
3a8abc118e38bd7f | The Last Movie | Rachel Hadas | Saturday, April 5. Welles’s Othello:
black and white grid of rage,
steam of sheer fury spewing from the vent
of violence that followed where they went.
Wind howled on the battlements, but sun
gilded glum canals. The lovers floated
beneath black bridges, coupled in stone rooms.
The unrepentant villain (at the sta... | [
"S6",
"S10"
] | [
"S6-4",
"S10-8",
"S10-10"
] | [
"Living",
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Theater & Dance",
"Arts & Sciences/Reading & Books",
"Living/Death & Dying"
] |
9a1f28eaf9ccc525 | Winter Dusk | Walter de La Mare | Dark frost was in the air without,
The dusk was still with cold and gloom,
When less than even a shadow came
And stood within the room.
But of the three around the fire,
None turned a questioning head to look,
Still read a clear voice, on and on,
Still stooped they o’er their book.
The children watched thei... | [
"S2",
"S8",
"S11"
] | [
"S2-4",
"S8-3",
"S8-5",
"S11-2"
] | [
"Nature",
"Relationships",
"Mythology & Folklore"
] | [
"Mythology & Folklore/Ghosts & the Supernatural",
"Nature/Winter",
"Relationships/Family & Ancestors",
"Relationships/Home Life"
] |
325bf40c52f0d317 | Thought | Thomas Pfau | To George Herbert
Aspiration's breath, millennial trance,
two-pointed ladder propped in a void;
busy buzzard claws, verbs on a leash,
slow blush of brain damage on a plate.
Stunned journey of dust. A holey sock.
Grind of an afternoon's axles, abandoned
juggernaut in a field; inhabited interval
with a pencil stub, curv... | [
"S10"
] | [
"S10-5",
"S10-6"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Philosophy",
"Arts & Sciences/Poetry & Poets"
] |
d139a1c26dd9efcd | August 12 in the Nebraska Sand Hills Watching the Perseids Meteor Shower | Twyla Hansen | In the middle of rolling grasslands, away from lights,
a moonless night untethers its wild polka-dots,
the formations we can name competing for attention
in a twinkling and crowded sky-bowl.
Out from the corners, our eyes detect a maverick meteor,
a transient streak, and lying back toward midnight
on the heft of ... | [
"S2",
"S3",
"S9"
] | [
"S2-6",
"S2-7",
"S3-9",
"S9-5"
] | [
"Nature",
"Social Commentaries",
"Activities"
] | [
"Nature/Bodies of Water",
"Nature/Landscapes & Pastorals",
"Social Commentaries/Rural & Country Life",
"Activities/Sports & Outdoor Activities"
] |
627dd89aed66dc30 | Betrothed | Louise Bogan | You have put your two hands upon me, and your mouth,
You have said my name as a prayer.
Here where trees are planted by the water
I have watched your eyes, cleansed from regret,
And your lips, closed over all that love cannot say,
My mother remembers the agony of her womb
And long years that see... | [
"S6",
"S8"
] | [
"S8-1",
"S8-7"
] | [
"Living",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Relationships/Breakups & Separation",
"Relationships/Marriage & Companionship"
] |
fc69f3523ed80946 | Learning to Talk | Minnie Bruce Pratt | On Magnolia Avenue there are no magnolias. Someone bought
the house of the one survivor. All morning I heard the chainsaw
sever its limbs from root to bud. No more scattered flowers, star city.
No pink galaxy. Now the yard is a parking space, one Jeep SUV,
one older car. Next door a woman comes out, late afternoon,... | [
"S3",
"S6",
"S8"
] | [
"S3-1",
"S6-2",
"S8-5"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Living",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/Cities & Urban Life",
"Living/Birth & Infancy",
"Relationships/Home Life"
] |
0d17f779c56ee527 | For Futures | Josephine Miles | When the lights come on at five o'clock on street corners
That is Evolution by the bureau of power,
That is a fine mechanic dealing in futures:
For the sky is wide and warm upon that hour. | [
"S7"
] | [] | [
"Time & Brevity"
] | [] |
cd13a65a1b0c8bf6 | Words for a Young Widow in Maine | Norman Williams | The sinew of the hickory that grips
The axe, the rasp of salt against the skin,
Or rockbound earth that shines the steel plough
In spring, are thought along our coast to lend
A native character, though none can match
The force of grief: compare the fisherman’s
Scored cheeks; the ligaments that rope the necks
Of ... | [
"S6",
"S8"
] | [
"S6-5",
"S8-7"
] | [
"Living",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Living/Mourning",
"Relationships/Marriage & Companionship"
] |
eeb650b1cba76c9e | Crossing into Canaan | D. A. Powell | Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me—Daniel 10:18
febrile body I woke into: nightsweats, stink of the toil of living:
where hands could not bear to approach me, the young man fingered
lay upon me, was himself a cool sponge, drew my perspiration to his lips
ice-c... | [
"S1",
"S5",
"S6",
"S8"
] | [
"S1-1",
"S1-3",
"S5-2",
"S6-1",
"S6-6",
"S8-6"
] | [
"Love",
"Religion",
"Living",
"Relationships"
] | [
"Love/Desire & Erotic Love",
"Love/Heartache & Loss",
"Religion/Christianity",
"Living/Aging",
"Living/Health & Illness",
"Relationships/LGBTQ+"
] |
be7813fc3697b0c9 | The Obsoletion of a Language | Kay Ryan | We knew it would happen, one of the laws.And that itwould be thissudden. Wordsbecome a chewingaction of the jaws and mouth, unheardby the only othercitizen there wason earth. | [
"S10"
] | [
"S10-2"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [
"Arts & Sciences/Language & Linguistics"
] |
a9fd68c9f236679f | The Crossing | Ruth Moose | The snail at the edge of the road inches forward, a trim gray finger of a fellow in pinstripe suit. He’s burdened by his house that has to follow where he goes. Every inch, he pulls together all he is, all he owns, ... | [
"S2"
] | [
"S2-5"
] | [
"Nature"
] | [
"Nature/Animals"
] |
4f5cf5fc67cb8732 | Plaisir | Stephen Dunn | Diarrhea: what nobody likes, though a word the French love to pronounce. They surround it with lips and tongue; it pleases, like saying cellar door does. Once I gave a pair of tweezers to an au pair girl who couldn’t extract a splinter from her foot. It was a pleasure for both of us to see that little thing come out. | [
"S10"
] | [] | [
"Arts & Sciences"
] | [] |
16cd39246f6d43fb | Adult Acne | Elaine Kahn | In the damp sick
In the dough
In the chewed on chew of faces
of expensive car owner faces
chewed ons of the world:
I do not fetishize the truth
I poke around
Holding my bland sandwich
in my non-dominant hand, I think
what could be worse, I think
what could be as bad?
To feel the thing you want
to feel and n... | [
"S3",
"S6"
] | [
"S3-7"
] | [
"Social Commentaries",
"Living"
] | [
"Social Commentaries/Popular Culture"
] |
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