“‘Spiral’ is a rare poem for me, written directly after—almost still within—the moment. It asks me to contend with multiple layers of embodied experience and memory at once [. . .].”

—Hari Alluri
@harialluri
#AboutThisPoem

poets.org/poem/spiral

“This poem is for a friend who died after a long life of writing, translating, and expanding the world of poetry. This poem is for, after, and sung in chorus with David Ferry.”

—Roger Reeves
#AboutThisPoem

poets.org/poem/prayer-go…

“A pediatric oncologist, my wife has dealt with the grief of many parents whose child has died; and of course, as a parent, you’d always choose to go first rather than your child.”

—David Mura
David Mura
#AboutThisPoem

poets.org/poem/reasons

“‘Parable’ celebrates the cicada—to me, a totem of survival and resurrection, a peaceful being that does little harm to trees or any animal, including us.”

—Nickole Brown
#AboutThisPoem

poets.org/poem/parable

“Written a few years ago, [. . .] somehow [‘The Pages You Loved’] opened up again and allowed me into it to revise it, with tiny touches, like adjusting a friend’s collar before sending them out into the world.”

—Khaled Mattawa
#AboutThisPoem

poets.org/poem/pages-you…

“I didn’t expect to write about my grief process, but it seemed the [Sipsey] Wilderness was showing me that my grief for my father was very similar to the difficult hiking path to the river.”

—Ashley M. Jones
@ALPoetLaureate
#AboutThisPoem

poets.org/poem/lullaby-g…

“We have arrived at a moment when many sense that we are again on the threshold of something ominous, already, in fact, tragically unfolding in parts of the world.”

—Ellen Hinsey
#AboutThisPoem

poets.org/poem/epistle-0

“Having written extensively about war and its human consequences, I have always been alert to the temptations of appropriation, voyeurism, and a too easy assumption of ethical authority.”

—Susan Tichy
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poets.org/poem/public-sp…

“Juan Antonio Corretjer was a major poet and advocate for independence in Puerto Rico. [. . .] His wife, Consuelo Lee Tapia, was also a writer and activist for independence.”

—Martín Espada
Martín Espada
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poets.org/poem/breve-pau…

“When you spend your life in a place that feels defined by its monotony, it’s hard to find a sense of personal identity that isn’t mass produced.”

—Aaron Tyler Hand
Aaron Tyler Hand
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poets.org/poem/self-port…

“[P]oetry is organic. We cannot know things by words and writing, but only by taking a central position in the universe and living in its forms. [. . .] Poetry must be affirmative. It is the piety of the intellect.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson
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poets.org/poem/park-1

“The FDR Memorial in Four Freedoms Park, a luxurious geometry of honed granite, is the play/picnic ground for local families [. . .] and the promise of a car-free, crime-free New York City neighborhood.”

––Monica Youn
monsteryoun 윤영나
#AboutThisPoem

poets.org/poem/four-free…

Academy of American Poets “…it’s also bad. A prank of sorts. To put it in an email and make you read it.”

—Jeffrey McDaniel
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“This poem is a wonder alongside the work of Brad Kahlhamer, Sky Hopinka, Nicole Wallace, Christina Sharpe, Dele Adeyemo, Nadia Yala Kisukidi, Rinaldo Walcott, Paul Celan, and Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man.’”

—Natalie Diaz
@nataliegdiaz
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