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Poetry Grove Library

Browse Classic and Contemporary Poems

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  3. 03Use the forms guide to compare sonnets, haiku, villanelles, odes, limericks, and free verse.
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All Poems (19)

The Weight of a Cup of Water

ResilienceIdentity
I carried a cup of water up the stairs and learned, halfway, that wisdom is not a city on a hill. It is the quiet wrist that keeps a small clear world...
1764 views394 likes

The Ferryman's Orchard

NatureMemory
At the bend where the current slows, the ferryman keeps an orchard of names tied to willow stakes. He waters them with river-mist, and each morning th...
2011 views458 likes

Three Breaths

NatureIdentity
Moon on wet reeds. // A heron folding its wings. // Night keeps the hush. Dawn on the window. // Steam rising from a blue cup. // The heart remembers...
1104 views281 likes

Borrowed Hours

MemoryIdentity
What is a day but water in the hand, // bright for a moment, then already gone? // We learn the art of living where we stand, // not by the clock, but...
1693 views359 likes

The Banner at the Pass

ResilienceIdentity
The pass was white with ash and broken stone; // the wind kept count of every fallen vow. // One soldier raised a banner of his own // and made the mo...
2480 views602 likes

Veil of Stars

IdentityMemory
At dusk the orchard thins into a hymn, // and every leaf turns silver at the edge. // A door I cannot name swings softly in, // revealing what the wak...
1325 views290 likes

Shelf of Time

MemoryLove
The books stand rank on rank like patient knights, // their spines weathered by the winters of the mind. // Yet each once kindled a thousand inner lig...
2201 views560 likes

Prayer at Dawn

IdentityMemory
Before the east had lifted up its gold, // I knelt beside the window, still and small. // The room grew vast, and yet it did not cold— // it filled wi...
1518 views336 likes

A Small Bell of Rain

MemoryIdentity
The afternoon went soft with patient rain, // as if the world had laid its burden down. // I walked the corridor of my own refrain // and found a gent...
1422 views301 likes

The Ladder at the Window

ResilienceIdentity
I set my doubt upon the sill like seed, // and waited for the morning to reply. // The smallest light can teach the soul to read // the plainest road ...
1761 views388 likes

First Frost of Morning

NatureMemory
The fields wore silver at the break of day, // and every fence was rimmed with patient light. // I watched the pasture learn a gentler way // to keep ...
1984 views472 likes

A Quiet Vow

LoveMemory
I set a candle in the room of dusk, // and there your name grew warm within the flame. // The night leaned close, as if it knew our trust, // and taug...
2430 views611 likes