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Verse-atile (Read a book of poems)

The Academy of American Poets says that interest in poetry rises during times of unrest and uncertainty, and the COVID-19 pandemic would certainly qualify. Join the growing poetry audience by reading a few poems to inspire comfort, consolation, hope, or a desire for change. Here are a few of our favorite volumes (and a sample from inside) that have been published during the time of the pandemic. 

Goldenrod by Maggie Smith

They look like gifts a crow might bring
a human girl, desperate to impress her.
In the left pocket of my thrifted emerald coat:
a scuffed acorn, a glassy black stone,
one pink Mr. Potato Head ear.

Book

Whale Day by Billy Collins

When I talk to myself,

as I sit in a chair or pace the floor,

I don’t bother to listen,

because my hearing is so bad

I wouldn’t be able to pick out a word,

plus I have nothing new to say.

 

Book

Illumination by Tyler Knott Gregson

If there are flowers in you

send them out, explode

with color and grace;

waste no sunlight, no time

in the hiding.

If you’re made to bloom,

bloom.

 

Book

Curb by Divya Victor

We are on our knees. We are saying that the tulips have had it

hard this week. We are saying something about the brightness

& the dryness & we are saying we hope it will change.

 

 

Book  /  eBook

Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass by Lana Del Rey

People think I’m rich and I am but not how they think

i have a truck with a gold key chain in the ignition

and on the back it says: happy joyous and free

 

Book  /  CD

What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer

When in doubt, try it on. Keep it simple.

Don’t waste time worrying if they will see

you from behind. No one on this entire

earth cares more about your life than you.

 

Book

The Perseverance by Raymond Antrobus

Look, everything I sold is listed in this notebook.

Fabrics, cleaned from your Great Gran’s house.

Vintage. People always reach back to times

gone and that’s what I’m saying,

people want to carry the past. Make it

fit them, make it say, this is still us.

 

Book

Dandelion by Gabbie Hanna

i went to bed at 9 pm

because i felt it was an acceptable

time to say the day was over.

 

Book

Obit by Victoria Chang

Optimism-died on August 3, 2015,

a slow death into a pavement. At

what point does a raindrop accept its

falling? The moment the cloud begins

to buckle under it or the moment

the ground pierces it and breaks its

shape?

 

Book  /  eBook

Together in a Sudden Strangeness edited by Alice Quinn

During the pandemic, I knew each neighbor by one thing. The neighbors above, the baby. The neighbors below, the dog. Someone down the hall, fried fish. Someone else down the hall, the opera when their door opened.

 

Book