It is difficult

to get the news from poems

		yet men die miserably every day

				for lack

of what is found there.

    – from “Asphodel, that Greeny Flower” by William Carlos Williams

Everyone knows April is the cruellest month, but don’t worry, it is also National Poetry Month! Most of the time we only think of poets as established older writers who have been poets since the beginning of time.  Think of Walt Whitman and you immediately see his long flowing white beard.  We seldom think of people, young people today, actually choosing to become poets. So for this month only, I will post a series of interviews with new up and
coming young poets who have only published their first or second books
of poetry. Check back on DCPLive throughout the month for the interviews.  In the meantime, here are a few good poetry links:

Poetry Daily – a new poem every day from established and emerging writers as well as an archive of all the past featured poems.
Poets.org – biographical information on major poets both old and new, with sample poems.
The Plagiarist – many poems archived here, browsable by poet or title.
PennSound – listen to recordings of poets reading from their own work!  A huge archive of goodies here.

Just a tiny sampling of the good poetry books available at the library:

The Complete Poems of Elizabeth Bishop (read a sample poem)
Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens (read a sample poem)

Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (read a sample poem)

The City in Which I Love You by Li Young Lee (read a sample poem)

Human Wishes by Robert Hass (read a sample poem)

77 Dream Songs by John Berryman (read a sample poem)

Mindfield by Gregory Corso (read a sample poem)

Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich (read a sample poem)

Collected Poems by Czeslaw Milosz (read a sample poem)

Trilogy by H.D. (read a sample poem)

Tristia by Osip Mandelstam (read a sample poem)

Collected Poems of Muriel Rukeyser (read a sample poem)

Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda (read a sample poem)

1. Poetry Myth Buster
2. Children and Poetry
3. Interview with Poet Aaron Zaritzky
4. Interview with Poet Sarah Vap
5. Poem for a Winter’s Day