what is your favourite poem?

Answer 1

I have several. But the Village Smithy, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is my favorite.

Answer 2

No favourites but I read the Archy & Mehitabel poems by Don Marquis because they're witty and clever and often profound. Archy is a cockroach but also a free verse poet. He doesn't bother with punctuation because he types and he'd get too exhausted.

The Lesson of the Moth

i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires

why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves

and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity

but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself

archy

Answer 3

I Remember Our Moments Like They Were Just Yesterday,
Those Moments Are Forever Stained on the Life’s Page’s Of My Soul.
Ah, My Soul….
For The First Time Ever…Today I Actually Felt My Soul,
Shifting Like a Storm,
Oh, how she moves my Soul?

That Feeling, So intense, that for a minute that seems like a day,
I am taken so far away,
Just her,
Just I
And Moments Play…
Though These Thoughts Hurt so Much,
They Make Me So Happy Sad…
Happy Times, Sunshine Smiles,
Stormy Days and Teary Ways…
God…. Tell Her I Miss That So Much!
Tell Her I Miss Her Early Morning Goodbyes

I Know I Love her Because,
She Has Become These Words.
These Words Are Not Mine,
They Are her,
Without her, they are echoes in the Dark,
Lost In A Loveless World

For she is Everything,
She Is Everywhere….
In A Cloud, In A Flower, A Floating Bee
The Moon, .A Star
A Wave, a Smile,
A Tear
Everywhere….
In The Sky,
In My Last Kiss Goodbye!

And Still Days Go By and Still I Survive,
But Life’s Blunt Point Is Not to Survive,
Life’s Fine Point is About Moments spent in
Serenity, Childs Play and Eternity
Sadness, Friendship and Togetherness!
About Moments that move you…
Like The Waves She Moves onto The Shores Of My Soul.

And When I’m Grey and Old I’ll remember this…
No One can ever replace her …
She’s one of a Kind,
Like An Undiscovered Flower on a Mountain,
No One but I Can Find…

And So I Conclude With This….
If ever I Am asked, “Have you Ever Been in Love?”
I’ll reply with a Tear of Joy on My Cheek,
“She Came Like the Wind and Blew Me Away, and Like a Passing Cloud She Goes By,
Love has Changed Me Forever.
And on One Dark and Unsuspecting Day, In This Life or the Next, I’ll follow the stars And Find My Way Back to Her”
And With a Low and Lovely Whisper,
Night After Night, For the Rest of My Life I’ll Remember This “I Have Been in Love, And Love Itself has been in Love with me!”

Answer 4

A Grave by Marianne Moore

Poem by Elizabeth Bishop

At the Fishhouses by Elizabeth Bishop

After Nature --long three-part poem-novel by W. G. Sebald

Anaphora...Elizabeth Bishop again

John Keats...
lots!

Answer 5

The Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,

even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter,

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble,

it's a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.

Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love;

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life,

keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Answer 6

She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron because it was the first poem I received from an admirer in 7th grade.

Answer 7

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell

Answer 8

I do not have one particular favourite but limericks never fail to make me smile. I would love to write verses for greetings cards and have written a verse to send to prospective clients as follows:

I'd love to find a little job to fill my twilight hours
My verses can be humorous, or even hearts and flowers
The choice is yours to make of course; your wish is my command
I'd check my work quite thoroughly; you'd find my verses scanned
Just let me know just what you’d like and I will do my best
Please write to me and let me know, and put me to the test.

Answer 9

Any short ones in a book.

Answer 10

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster