We’re already a few days into April, which marks National/Global Poetry Writing Month in North America and beyond. To help us get into that special NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo mood, here are four poems we’ve recently discovered and loved.
Miri Elm, “I Want to Be Like Water”
I want to be like water.
Water has a quiet power, an ever-realized presence, a sound with no force, an ability to move and be solid.
If I could be water I would slide through your cracks, inhibit your crevices and then become solid within them.
I would vaporize so that you could breathe me in and taste my smoke.
But
I canโt manipulate water; I am not graceful or flowing.
I am made of flesh and bone that refuses to adapt, refuses to recreate itself.
No matter how much I want it to.
Visit A Short Conversation to read the rest of Miri Elm’s poem.
Thinking about participating in NaPoWriMo? If you need a little push, use our Daily Prompts as starting points for your poems.
Christy Bharath, “Birds Are Not Musicians; They Are Songs”
White-Throated Kingfishers sound like a jackhammer in the hands of a jazz drummer. Asian Koels can be mistaken for star-crossed Shakespearean strangers cooing goodbye one last time. Black-Winged Kites shriek as though they are auditioning for musical satires. If the world was any crueler, music labels would hire poachers to hunt down Malabar Hornbills, and steal their summer playlists.
The most beautiful bird call I have ever heard belongs to a whistler in an electric blue coat. Found in the Western Ghats, it is the Beethoven of alarm clocks.
Read the rest of this prose poem over at verseherder, the blog of South India-based writer and bird-lover Christy Bharath.
Liza Flum, “Look”
The page: a body
is this, a body is that.
The threat: internaland opaque. This might mean
the girl is external to everything.
Mirrors double the quickmovement. Impossible pleasureโ
to picture her own closed eyes.
A mask of lack: the nose missingand sharp contours. What double
skin is this? The monster
hands her a daisy,and she takes it into
her mouth. The monster likes
to see her well-fed.
Head to heavy feather review to explore a collection of five poems by Liza Flum — and browse the site for other poets’ work.
Carolin Messier, “A Recipe for Writing Poetry”
As I roll the pin
across the fifth crust
of buttery dough
to fill fluted pans from France,
my fingers itch
to grasp instead
a pencil
to plant words, not seeds
upon a page
to capture and preserve
the thoughts and remembrances
that waft to the surface
with the steam of rosemary tea.
Writer/pastry chef Carolin Messier reflects on the similarities and differences between poetry and baking — read the rest of her poem on Writes with Pencils.
Did the selection whet your appetite for more verse? Browse our poetry archives for other poems and experimental writing, or follow the NaPoWriMo tag in the Reader to explore a steady stream of new work.
I loved the collection! Thank you for sharing! It’s been a perfect read for an insomnia-characterized night.๐๐
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Great piece of work!
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This is awesome, thank you.
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I can only dream to write as well as these have been written.. amazing poems! ๐๐ป
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Poems are of beautiful expression. I write many poems to clear my mind! Words are more powerful than any weapon
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Interesting pieces…..
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Nice one….
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Wonderful !
The best I have come across today.
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Thank you for sharing!!
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Good work.
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Awesome! I loved that piece on “water” the most.
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Wow!! Beautiful work. Thanks.
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Thanks for sharing!
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Amazing work!
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Wow this poem is amazing.
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Beautiful blessings ๐
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I used to live, eat and breathe poetry. Thank you for reminding me that it is poetry month! I think I will write something new since you reminded me, and because I have been lazy with my writing and need to!
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It’s time to pick up your pen again! Cheers.
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Every time I land in WordPress – there is so much to learn! Love all the four poems.
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I actually did a poem like water shaped like a drop of water once for AP English. I’ll have to dig it up. That was so much fun. This is amazing.
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Beautiful photo, great shot!
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Poetry is easier for those who write it. I expect a poem to come to me, but I rarely write poems. Thank you for sharing your poems, and the wisdom that is in them.
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Thank you for sharing. We’re promoting our II Poetry Contest. Click Here to submit your poem. https://weareallthesameproject.com/poetry-contest/
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fantastic! words are the seeds of ideas, plant them everywhere!
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To plant a plant unwanted
That
one is better
For your eyes only
Or
Feed
Or
Which smoothes everthing
After Inhailing
Plant a plant unwanted i.e.
O weed (called khar-patwar)
When You earn more than
Any other ‘Crop’
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I don’t know if it’s just me or what, but every single English poem I’ve read (except Anabel Lee by E.A. Poe) does not rhyme! I mean, I get that rhyming isn’t that important, but it’s not that hard after all. And it the one doesn’t want to rhyme, one should write a story or a novel. It’s just my opinion, I don’t want to offend any artist that write poems without rhyming.
And also the fact that there aren’t the same amount of syllables in every verse.
Now I might not be right, I do not study English poetry. But rhyming and having same amount of syllables in verses is pretty much essential (with exceptions) is Serbian poetry. And that is the perspective I’m looking from.
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Rhyming and metered verse were very much the norm in English, too, up until a few decades ago. And many poets still use these poetic tools today in English poetry as well, though you’re right that they’re far less prevalent these days, at least in what’s considered more “serious” poetry (you still find lots of rhymes in children’s books, popular music lyrics, etc.).
Interesting to hear about the situation in Serbian poetry — thanks for sharing that perspective.
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Beautifully written!
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Great post!
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To all potential poets out there…there’s so much beauty in words awaiting your influence…this is a great example to emulate from….Great!
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Amazing!
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The first poem has made my day.
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All the poems are amazing.. Have a look at my page also๐๐
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Yes, thank you for sharing!
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May we all seek new views and perspectives and find peace through words.
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I started writing poems recently and I’m loving it.
These collections are definitely worth reading. Thanks for sharing.
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