1. The Dandelion - written by Vachel Lindsay
Read 3648 times on American Poems.

O DANDELION, rich and haughty, 
King of village flowers! 
Each day is coronation time, 
You have no humble hours. 
I like to see you bring a troop 
To beat the blue-grass spears, 
To scorn the lawn-mower that would be 
Like fate's triumphant shears,... (Read full poem)

None who saw it ever told it
'Tis as hid as Death
Had for that specific treasure
A departing breath --
Surfaces may be invested
Did the Diamond grow
General as the Dandelion
Would you serve it so?(Read full poem)

3. Francesca - written by Ezra Pound
Read 3697 times on American Poems.

You came in out of the night
And there were flowers in your hand,
Now you will come out of a confusion of people,
Out of a turmoil of speech about you.

I who have seen you amid the primal things
Was angry when they spoke your name
IN... (Read full poem)

Ye who are kicking against Fate,
Tell me how it is that on this hill-side,
Running down to the river,
Which fronts the sun and the south-wind,
This plant draws from the air and soil
Poison and becomes poison ivy?
And this plant draws from the... (Read full poem)

5. I started Early -- Took my Dog -- - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 18386 times on American Poems.

I started Early -- Took my Dog --
And visited the Sea --
The Mermaids in the Basement
Came out to look at me --

And Frigates -- in the Upper Floor
Extended Hempen Hands --
Presuming Me to be a Mouse --
Aground -- upon the Sands --

But no... (Read full poem)

Tail turned to red sunset on a juniper crown a lone magpie cawks.

Mad at Oryoki in the shrine-room -- Thistles blossomed late afternoon.

Put on my shirt and took it off in the sun walking the path to lunch.

A dandelion seed floats above the marsh... (Read full poem)

7. Domestic Work, 1937 - written by Natasha Trethewey
From Domestic Work. Published in 1999. Read 1292 times on American Poems.

All week she's cleaned
someone else's house,
stared down her own face
in the shine of copper--
bottomed pots, polished
wood, toilets she'd pull
the lid to--that look saying

Let's make a change, girl.

But Sunday mornings are hers--
church clothes... (Read full poem)

I hang the window inside out
         like a shirt drying in a breeze
and the arms that are missing come to me
         Yes, it's a song, one I don't quite comprehend
although I do understand the laundry.
         White ash and rain water, a... (Read full poem)

9. The House Of Dust: Part 04: 05: The Bitter Love-Song - written by Conrad Aiken
From The House of Dust. Published in 1917. Read 1563 times on American Poems.

No, I shall not say why it is that I love you—
Why do you ask me, save for vanity?
Surely you would not have me, like a mirror,
Say 'yes,—your hair curls darkly back from the temples,
Your mouth has a humorous, tremulous, half-shy... (Read full poem)

A woman 
who loves a woman 
is forever young. 
The mentor 
and the student 
feed off each other. 
Many a girl 
had an old aunt 
who locked her in the study 
to keep the boys away. 
They would play rummy 
or lie on the couch 
and touch... (Read full poem)

11. Rapunzel - written by Anne Sexton
From Transformations. Read 5001 times on American Poems.

A woman 
who loves a woman 
is forever young. 
The mentor 
and the student 
feed off each other. 
Many a girl 
had an old aunt 
who locked her in the study 
to keep the boys away. 
They would play rummy 
or lie on the couch 
and touch and touch.... (Read full poem)

[A Poem for Aviators]


How the Wings Were Made

From many morning-glories 
That in an hour will fade, 
From many pansy buds 
Gathered in the shade, 
From lily of the valley 
And dandelion buds, 
From fiery poppy-buds 
Are the Wings of... (Read full poem)

13. Part 3 of Trout Fishing in America - written by Richard Brautigan
Published in 1950. Read 1084 times on American Poems.

SEA, SEA RIDER


The man who owned the bookstore was not magic. He was not a

three-legged crow on the dandelion side of the mountain.

  He was, of course, a Jew, a retired merchant seaman

who had been torpedoed in the North Atlantic and... (Read full poem)