1. Baby Vamps - written by Carl Sandburg
From Smoke and Steel. Published in 1922. Read 2847 times on American Poems.

BABY vamps, is it harder work than it used to be?
Are the new soda parlors worse than the old time saloons?
  Baby vamps, do you have jobs in the day time or is this all you do? do you come out only at night?
In the winter at the skating rinks, in... (Read full poem)

"Then we will have tonight!" we said.
"Tomorrow- may we not be dead?"
The morrow touched our eyes, and found
Us walking firm above the ground,
Our pulses quick, our blood alight.
Tomorrow's gone- we'll have tonight!(Read full poem)

3. The Pattern - written by Russell Edson
Read 1366 times on American Poems.

A women had given birth to an old man.

  He cried to have again been caught in the pattern.

  Oh well, he sighed as he took her breast to his mouth.

  The woman is happy to have her baby, even if it is old.

  Probably it got mislaid in the baby... (Read full poem)

There will be mud on the carpet tonight
and blood in the gravy as well.
The wifebeater is out,
the childbeater is out
eating soil and drinking bullets from a cup.
He strides bback and forth
in front of my study window
chewing little red pieces of my... (Read full poem)

5. Prayer In Bad Weather - written by Charles Bukowski
Read 1846 times on American Poems.

by God, I don't know what to
do.
they're so nice to have around.
they have a way of playing with
the balls
and looking at the cock very
seriously
turning it
tweeking it
examining each part
as their long hair falls on
your belly.
it's not the fucking... (Read full poem)

The church had a crying room—
up at the opposite side of the altar.
Good for the baby.
It was glass on all sides like a tank.
A microphone brought in the priest’s voice.
From the crying room we could see
how things happened backstage:
someone... (Read full poem)

7. August 15 - written by David Lehman
Read 975 times on American Poems.

My new Web site is dropdead.com
It's interactive you get to choose how
you'll die, where, and at what age
and it'll still come as a complete
surprise to you I guarantee
but let's not get morbid it's a game
it's more fun than bullshit.com and a lot... (Read full poem)

I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got shirts to press
The tots to dress
The can to be cut
I gotta... (Read full poem)

9. The Left Bank - written by David Lehman
Read 816 times on American Poems.

Don't walk away, Renee,
I'm just getting warmed up
your body is like a river
and I'm going to swim across
I want to explore the left
bank of you then the right
you're the only woman in
this room with a sunflower
in her hair and you take
forever in... (Read full poem)

Little brown baby wif spa'klin' eyes, 
Come to yo' pappy an' set on his knee.
What you been doin', suh -- makin' san' pies?
Look at dat bib -- you's es du'ty ez me.
Look at dat mouf -- dat's merlasses, I bet;
Come hyeah, Maria, an'... (Read full poem)

11. The Hangman at Home - written by Carl Sandburg
From Smoke and Steel. Published in 1922. Read 3171 times on American Poems.

WHAT does the hangman think about
When he goes home at night from work?
When he sits down with his wife and
Children for a cup of coffee and a
Plate of ham and eggs, do they ask
Him if it was a good day’s work
And everything went well or do... (Read full poem)

We can look into the stove tonight
as into a mirror, yes, 

the serrated log, the yellow-blue gaseous core 

the crimson-flittered grey ash, yes.
I know inside my eyelids
and underneath my skin 

Time takes hold of us like a draft
upward,... (Read full poem)

13. Scrambled Eggs And Whiskey - written by Hayden Carruth
From Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey: Poems 1991-1995. Published in 1996. Read 1118 times on American Poems.

Scrambled eggs and whiskey
in the false-dawn light. Chicago,
a sweet town, bleak, God knows,
but sweet. Sometimes. And
weren't we fine tonight?
When Hank set up that limping
treble roll behind me
my horn just growled and I
thought my heart... (Read full poem)

Liner Notes - (from No More Mister Nice Girl)

I was having a foul day. Some
geezer harrassed me on the street and I got completely bent out of shape,
but the guy was huge so I just stuffed my retort. Went home to drink
coffee. No milk. I... (Read full poem)

15. Baby Face - written by Carl Sandburg
From Cornhuskers. Published in 1918. Read 3208 times on American Poems.

WHITE MOON comes in on a baby face.
The shafts across her bed are flimmering.
 
Out on the land White Moon shines,
Shines and glimmers against gnarled shadows,
All silver to slow twisted shadows
Falling across the long road that runs from the... (Read full poem)

Perfection is terrible, it cannot have children.
Cold as snow breath, it tamps the womb

Where the yew trees blow like hydras,
The tree of life and the tree of life

Unloosing their moons, month after month, to no purpose.
The blood flood is the... (Read full poem)

17. Dream Song 131: Come touch me baby in his waking dream - written by John Berryman
From His Toy, His Dream, His Rest. Published in 1968. Read 977 times on American Poems.

Come touch me baby in his waking dream
disordered Henry murmured. I'll read you Hegel
and that will hurt your mind
I can't remember when you were unkind
but I will clear that block, I'll set you on fire
along with our babies

to save them... (Read full poem)

Holy Mother of God, Merciful Mary.  Hear 
me!  I am very weary.  I have come
from a village miles away, all day I have been coming, and I ache 
for such
far roaming.  I cannot walk as light as I used, and my 
thoughts grow confused.
I am... (Read full poem)

19. (End) of Summer (1966) - written by Bill Knott
Read 1285 times on American Poems.

I'm tired of murdering children.
Once, long ago today, they wanted to live;
now I feel Vietnam the place
where rigor mortis is beginning to set-in upon me.

I force silence down the throats of mutes,
down the throats of mating-cries of animals who... (Read full poem)

Ghosts of all my lovely sins,
Who attend too well my pillow,
Gay the wanton rain begins;
Hide the limp and tearful willow.

Turn aside your eyes and ears,
Trail away your robes of sorrow,
You shall have my further years-
You shall walk with me... (Read full poem)

21. A Baby In The House - written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Read 2615 times on American Poems.

I knew that a baby was hid in that house,
Though I saw no cradle and heard no cry;
But the husband was tip-toeing 'round like a mouse,
And the good wife was humming a soft lullaby;
And there was a look on the face of the mother,
That I knew... (Read full poem)

I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn't,
So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn't a-been so cold
I might've sunk and died.

     But it was... (Read full poem)

23. Stupid - written by Raymond Carver
From Ultramarine. Read 9183 times on American Poems.

It's what the kids nowadays call weed. And it drifts
like clouds from his lips. He hopes no one
comes along tonight, or calls to ask for help.
Help is what he's most short on tonight.
A storm thrashes outside. Heavy seas
with gale winds from the... (Read full poem)

A Mine there is no Man would own
But must it be conferred,
Demeaning by exclusive wealth
A Universe beside --

Potosi never to be spent
But hoarded in the mind
What Misers wring their hands tonight
For Indies in the Ground!(Read full poem)

25. Invention - written by Billy Collins
Read 4429 times on American Poems.

Tonight the moon is a cracker,
with a bite out of it
floating in the night,

and in a week or so
according to the calendar
it will probably look

like a silver football,
and nine, maybe ten days ago
it reminded me of a thin bright claw.

But... (Read full poem)