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  American Life in Poetry: Column 310 | 03.01.11

  3625 readersby Ted Kooser, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006 A friend saw a refrigerator magnet that read, PARENTING: THE FIRST 40 YEARS ARE THE HARDEST. And lots of parents, thinking their children have moved on, discover one day that those children are back. Here Marilyn L. Taylor, Poet Laureate of Wisconsin, writes of that. Home

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  Why We Need Poetry

  1926 readersI don’t know if it’s because poetry is the language of rebels, artists and mavericks, confounding expectations, breaking rules and saying this, this is how things might be or maybe that at times of the deepest emotion, we turn as if by instinct, back to poetry Of course perhaps it’s the invitation to play, to

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  Telling a Good Poem from a Bad One

  2776 readersJudging the quality of a poem is to a certain extent subjective, but a comparison of poems can educate the reader as to the general criteria of a good poem. Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook. Original Post: Telling a Good Poem from a Bad One

• American Life in Poetry: Column 287 | 09.21.10

  2122 readersby Ted Kooser, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006 I love to sit outside and be very still until some little creature appears and begins to go about its business, and here is another poet, Robert Gibb, of Pennsylvania, doing just the same thing. For the Chipmunk in My Yard I think he knows I’m alive, having come down The three

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  When Should Poetry Rhyme?

  3816 readersRhyme, although common, is not an essential attribute of poetry. Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook. Original Post: When Should Poetry Rhyme?

• American Life in Poetry: Column 289 | 10.05.10

  1795 readersby Ted Kooser, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006 There’s only so much we can do to better ourselves, and once we’ve done what we can, it still may not have been enough. Here’s a poem by Michelle Y. Burke, who lives in N.Y., in which a man who does everything right doesn’t quite do everything right. Nocturne A man

• News Made Poetry on Kickstarter

  5221 readers Poet Matthew Chase Whittemore hopes to raise $1,500 on Kickstarter for his “News Made Poetry” project. Above, we’ve embedded a video about the project. Here’s more about the project: “Over the next year I’m going to read the New York Times, pick one article and then, by sampling words, ideas and phrases from that text,

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  American Life in Poetry: Column 283 | 08.24.10

  2236 readersby Ted Kooser, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006 I’ve read dozens of poems written about the events of September 11, 2001, but this one by Tony Gloeggler of New York City is the only one I’ve seen that addresses the good fortune of a survivor. Five Years Later My brother was on his way to a dental appointment when the second

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  National Book Foundation Launches Poetry Blog

  1250 readersThe National Book Foundation has launched a poetry blog spotlighting past National Book Award-winning poets from the last 61 years. Here’s more from the announcement: “The blog provides an opportunity for a group of talented contemporary po...

• American Life in Poetry: Column 316 | 04.12.11

  3685 readersby Ted Kooser, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006 I’ve mentioned before how much I like poems that take the time to carefully observe people at work. Here David St. John, who lives in California, gives us a snapshot of workers protecting an orchard. Peach Fires Out in the orchards the dogs stood Almost frozen in the bleak spring night & Mister