For gnomes and magical thinking of all kinds, from poetryfoundation.org.
from Shroud of the Gnome / by James Tate
And what amazes me is that none of our modern inventions
surprise or interest him, even a little.
Poetry
DPF / Shakespeare
For the sonnet and its ability to hold a moment, a memory, and a loved one alive forever in its tiny Pensieve, from poetryfoundation.org.
from Sonnet 18 / by William Shakespeare
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
DPF / Plath
For a favorite, from poets.org.
from Tulips / by Sylvia Plath
The tulips should be behind bars like dangerous animals;
They are opening like the mouth of some great African cat,
And I am aware of my heart: it opens and closes
Its bowl of red blooms out of sheer love of me.
DPF / Ekelöf
For the moon and the sun, from The Star By My Head.
from Sung / by Gunnar Ekelöf, translated by Malena Mörling and Jonas Ellerström
The night tonight is a starry clear one.
The air is clean and cold.
The moon is searching in all things
for its lost inheritance.
DPF / Öijer
For a belated day and what we would say to our younger selves if we could, from The Star By My Head.
from Hold Him There / by Bruno K. Öijer, translated by Malena Mörling and Jonas Ellerström
without thinking
I had phoned my childhood
listened to the dial tone that went through
and when my mom answered
I asked to speak to myself
after a long while
a seven year old boy took the receiver
and his voice pierced my heart
DPF / Smith
For our sun, and for a poet with the same last name as our grandparents had, from poets.org.
from Sci-Fi / by Tracy K. Smith
Eons from even our own moon, we’ll driftIn the haze of space, which will be, onceAnd for all, scrutable and safe.
DPF / Hughes
For Back-to-School, Week #2, from a favorite poet, and from poets.org.
from Theme for English B / by Langston Hughes
It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me—who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
DPF / Collins
For the chickens near my classroom which remind me of my grandparents’ home on top of a Kentucky mountain, from Kevin’s Much-Loved Poems.
from Nostalgia/ by Billy Collins
Remember the 1340s? We were doing a dance called the Catapult.
You always wore brown, the color craze of the decade,
and I was draped in one of those capes that were popular,
the ones with unicorns and pomegranates in needlework.
DPF / Sandburg
For the silvers and golds of summer, from poets.org.
from Back Yard / by Carl Sandburg
Shine on, O moon of summer.
Shine to the leaves of grass, catalpa and oak,
All silver under your rain to-night.
DPF / Jackson
For the month with an adjective for a name, from poets.org.
from August / by Helen Hunt Jackson
Silence again. The glorious symphony
Hath need of pause and interval of peace.
Some subtle signal bids all sweet sounds cease,
Save hum of insects’ aimless industry.
Daily Poetry Fragments {Semi-Daily} 