Any Good Poetry Selections??

Question

For drama, I need a LONG Poem to present. Does anyone know good poems that are interesting and easy to understand? Please and Thanks!!! =]

Answer 1

The Earth by Pablo Neruda

The green earth has yielded
to everything yellow, gold, harvests,
farms, leaves, grain,
but when autumn rises
with its spacious banner
it is you that i see,
for me it is your hair
that separates the tassels.

I see the monuments
of ancient broken stone,
but if i touch
the stone scar
your body responds to me,
my fingers recognize
suddenly, shivering,
your warm sweetness.

I pass among the heroes
recently decorated
by the earth and the dust
and behind them, silent,
with your tiny steps,
is it you or not you?
yesterday, when they pulled up
by the roots, to have a look at it,
the old dwarf tree,
i saw you come out looking at me
from the tortured
and thirsty roots.

And when sleep comes
to stretch me out and take me
to my own silence
there is a great white wind
that destroys my sleep
and from it fall leaves,
they fall like knives
upon me, draining me of blood.

And each wound has
the shape of your mouth.

Answer 2

Just read this poem today while researching sunflowers. See link below for more ideas.


Sunflowers in a Field


Sunflowers in a field.
Goldfinches everywhere.
They gorge on seed. They rise
To rest along the power line, then fall
Like drizzled lemon drops, like lozenges
Of candied yellow light.
Two weeks a year, goldfinches
Gather on sunflowers here.
These evenings after supper,
You see them in the honey-soft glow
As if they'd trapped and somehow stored
The rapture of September's sun.
You see goldfinches flicker
Among sunflower lanes,
Through mortal tides of light,
Through streams of apricot and chardonnay,
And you resolve to live
Your life with greater sympathy.
Sunflowers bowing their char black dials,
Their petals twist and writhe
Like fires, like silk coronas blazing west.
How inconceivable, then,
The pewter cold-front clouds,
The shabby settlement of crow and wren.
Though no one hears the oath,
You shall, you tell yourself,
Forgo deceit, increase the tithe.
Atone. Forgive. Embrace. You watch
Goldfinches and sunflowers both
Begin to fade. By subtle green degrees
They shed that bullion luster of the sun
Until the finches ricochet
Like flints among the drowsing flower heads.
Perhaps, as I have done,
You'll pace the darkling half mile home,
Intent on picking up the telephone
To reconcile with long-lost friends.
You will apologize, concede.
You'll vow to never, ever, ever let
Such distance grow again.
But then you reach your door and find
The day diminished to a thin blue rind
Of light above the township silhouette.
How nice a hot bath sounds.
Dessert. An herbal tea.
Perhaps you'll read the Arts
And Leisure pages of The Daily News.
With every stair you climb
Sleep settles just a little more behind
The knees, beneath the shoulder blades.
The calls, you tell yourself,
Perhaps some other time.


Daniel Anderson
The Southern Review
Spring 2005

Answer 3

My favorite poem when I was a teenager was 'The Highwayman'. Very dramatic poem about a tragic ending! I cannot remember who it was composed by.. but to this day makes me afraid to find 'the moors'.

Also any of Edgar Allen Poe's poems are fun... told in third person they are very colorful and expressive. My favorites are "The Raven" and "Cask of Amontillado". (I'm sure I spelled Amontillado incorrectly.. but its 12am here lol). You might recognize "The Raven" from the TV show, The Simpson's and also told by many famous people every Halloween.

And for fun... try reciting any children's book by Dr Seuss (usually 32 pages) from memory. "Green Eggs and Ham", and "Horton Hears a Who" which are my favorites. Incidentally, its the 50th birthday of Seuss' "Cat in the Hat" on March 2nd, 2007.

Answer 4

TITLE: The House With Nobody In It
BY: Joyce Kilmer
LINES: 28
...
TITLE: The Raven
BY: Edgar Allen Poe
LINES: 108

Answer 5

Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath

Answer 6

Try http://poetry.com/

Answer 7

ther once was a man from nantucket..............nah, never mind.