Section: «Poems»
Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings:
artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.);
a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").
The Boy Columbus
by Madison Cawein And he had mused on lands each bird,—That winged from realms of Falerina,O'er seas of the Enchanted Sword,—In romance sang him..
© Columbus Day
Flawless His Heart
by James Russell LowellFlawless his heart and tempered to the coreWho, beckoned by the forward-leaning wave,First left behind him the firm-footed..
© Columbus Day
Columbus to Ferdinand
by Philip Freneau. Columbus was a considerable number of years engaged in soliciting the court of Spain to fit him out, in order to discover a new..
© Columbus Day
Death of a Young Son by Drowning
He, who navigated with successthe dangerous river of his own birthonce more set forthon a voyage of discoveryinto the land I floated onbut could not..
© Margaret Atwood
February
Winter. Time to eat fatand watch hockey. In the pewter mornings, the cat,a black fur sausage with yellowHoudini eyes, jumps up on the bed and triesto..
© Margaret Atwood
Provisions
What should we have takenwith us? We never could decideon that; or what to wear,or at what time ofyear we should make the journeySo here we are in..
© Margaret Atwood
Backdropp Addresses Cowboy
Starspangled cowboysauntering out of the almost-silly West, on your facea porcelain grin,tugging a papier-mache cactuson wheels behind you with a..
© Margaret Atwood
The Rest
The rest of us watch from beyond the fenceas the woman moves with her jagged strideinto her pain as if into a slow race.We see her body in motionbut..
© Margaret Atwood
Postcards
I'm thinking about you. What else can I say?The palm trees on the reverseare a delusion; so is the pink sand.What we have are the usualfractured coke..
© Margaret Atwood
A Visit
Gone are the dayswhen you could walk on water.When you could walk.The days are gone.Only one day remains,the one you're in.The memory is no friend.It..
© Margaret Atwood
Sekhmet, The Lion-Headed Goddess Of War
He was the sort of manwho wouldn't hurt a fly.Many flies are now alivewhile he is not.He was not my patron.He preferred full granaries, I battle.My..
© Margaret Atwood
In The Secular Night
In the secular night you wander aroundalone in your house. It's two-thirty.Everyone has deserted you,or this is your story;you remember it from being..
© Margaret Atwood
Night Poem
There is nothing to be afraid of,it is only the windchanging to the east, it is onlyyour father the thunderyour mother the rainIn this country of..
© Margaret Atwood
The Shadow Voice
My shadow said to me:what is the matterIsn't the moon warmenough for youwhy do you needthe blanket of another bodyWhose kiss is mossAround the picnic..
© Margaret Atwood
Spelling
My daughter plays on the floorwith plastic letters,red, blue & hard yellow,learning how to spell,spelling,how to make spells.I wonder how many..
© Margaret Atwood
Morning In The Burned House
In the burned house I am eating breakfast.You understand: there is no house, there is no breakfast,yet here I am.The spoon which was melted scrapes..
© Margaret Atwood
Variation On The Word Sleep
I would like to watch you sleeping,which may not happen.I would like to watch you,sleeping. I would like to sleepwith you, to enteryour sleep as its..
© Margaret Atwood
The Landlady
This is the lair of the landladyShe isa raw voiceloose in the rooms beneath me.the continuous henyardsquabble going on belowthought in this house..
© Margaret Atwood
Bored
All those times I was boredout of my mind. Holding the logwhile he sawed it. Holdingthe string while he measured, boards,distances between things, or..
© Margaret Atwood
The City Planners
Cruising these residential Sundaystreets in dry August sunlight:what offends us isthe sanities:the houses in pedantic rows, the plantedsanitary..
© Margaret Atwood
Siren Song
This is the one song everyonewould like to learn: the songthat is irresistible:the song that forces mento leap overboard in squadronseven though they..
© Margaret Atwood
More And More
More and more frequently the edgesof me dissolve and I becomea wish to assimilate the world, includingyou, if possible through the skinlike a cool..
© Margaret Atwood
Habitation
Marriage is nota house or even a tentit is before that, and colder:the edge of the forest, the edgeof the desertthe unpainted stairsat the back where..
© Margaret Atwood
Flying Inside Your Own Body
Your lungs fill & spread themselves,wings of pink blood, and your bonesempty themselves and become hollow.When you breathe in you’ll lift like a..
© Margaret Atwood
Variations On The Word Love
This is a word we use to plugholes with. It's the right size for those warmblanks in speech, for those red heart-shaped vacancies on the page that..
© Margaret Atwood