1. My friend must be a Bird - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 10163 times on American Poems.

My friend must be a Bird --
Because it flies!
Mortal, my friend must be,
Because it dies!
Barbs has it, like a Bee!
Ah, curious friend!
Thou puzzlest me!(Read full poem)

My friend attacks my friend!
Oh Battle picturesque!
Then I turn Soldier too,
And he turns Satirist!
How martial is this place!
Had I a mighty gun
I think I'd shoot the human race
And then to glory run!(Read full poem)

3. Dream Song 130: When I saw my friend covered with blood, I thought - written by John Berryman
From His Toy, His Dream, His Rest. Published in 1968. Read 1044 times on American Poems.

When I saw my friend covered with blood, I thought
This is the end of the dream, now I'll wake up.
That was more years ago
than I care to reckon, and my friend is not 
dying but adhering to an élite group
in California O.

Why did I... (Read full poem)

Daily dawns another day;
I must up, to make my way.
Though I dress and drink and eat,
Move my fingers and my feet,
Learn a little, here and there,
Weep and laugh and sweat and swear,
Hear a song, or watch a stage,
Leave some words upon a page,
Claim... (Read full poem)

5. Mary McNeely - written by Edgar Lee Masters
Read 424 times on American Poems.

Passer-by,
To love is to find your own soul
Through the soul of the beloved one.
When the beloved one withdraws itself from your soul
Then you have lost your soul.
It is written: "I have a friend,
But my sorrow has no friend."
Hence my long... (Read full poem)

Where a faint light shines alone, 
Dwells a Demon I have known. 
Most of you had better say 
"The Dark House," and go your way. 
Do not wonder if I stay.

For I know the Demon's eyes 
And their lure that never dies. 
Banish all your fond... (Read full poem)

7. Rotgut - written by Brooks Haxton
From Uproar. Read 298 times on American Poems.

The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor 
            the moon by night.     Psalm 121

On a hillside scattered with temples broken
under the dogday sun, my friend and I drank
local wine at nightfall and ate grapeleaves
in goat-yogurt glaze.... (Read full poem)

EVERY year Emily Dickinson sent one friend
the first arbutus bud in her garden.
  
In a last will and testament Andrew Jackson
remembered a friend with the gift of George
Washington’s pocket spy-glass.
  
Napoleon too, in a last testament,... (Read full poem)

9. Frankenstein - written by Edward Field
Read 1494 times on American Poems.

The monster has escaped from the dungeon
where he was kept by the Baron,
who made him with knobs sticking out from each side of his neck
where the head was attached to the body
and stitching all over
where parts of cadavers were sewed... (Read full poem)

We will lay our summer away, my friend, 
So tenderly lay it away.
It was bright and sweet to the very end, 
Like one long, golden day.
Nothing sweeter could come to me, 
Nothing sweeter to you.
We will lay it away, and let it be, 
Hid from... (Read full poem)

11. Recorders Ages Hence. - written by Walt Whitman
From Leaves of Grass. Published in 1900. Read 1690 times on American Poems.

RECORDERS ages hence! 
Come, I will take you down underneath this impassive exterior—I will tell you what to
    say
	of
	me; 
Publish my name and hang up my picture as that of the tenderest lover, 
The friend, the lover’s portrait, of... (Read full poem)

Good-bye – Yes, I am going,
Sudden? Well, you are right.
But a startling truth came home to me
With sudden force last night.
What is it? shall I tell you? –
Nay, that is why I go.
I am running away from the battlefield,
Turning my back on the... (Read full poem)

13. A Negro Love Song - written by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Read 3172 times on American Poems.

Seen my lady home las' night, 
Jump back, honey, jump back.
Hel' huh han' an' sque'z it tight,
Jump back, honey, jump back.
Hyeahd huh sigh a little sigh,
Seen a light gleam f'om huh eye,
An' a smile go flittin' by --
Jump back,... (Read full poem)

Friend, your white beard sweeps the ground.
Why do you stand, expectant?
Do you hope to see it
In one of your withered days?
With your old eyes
Do you hope to see
The triumphal march of justice?
Do not wait, friend!
Take your white beard
And your... (Read full poem)

15. August 8th - written by Anne Sexton
Read 5193 times on American Poems.

And do not be indiscreet or unconventional. Play it safe.

Listen here. I've never played it safe
in spite of what the critics say.
Ask my imaginary brother, that waif,
that childhood best friend who comes to play
dress-up and stick-up and jacks and... (Read full poem)

Death is potential to that Man
Who dies -- and to his friend --
Beyond that -- unconspicuous
To Anyone but God --

Of these Two -- God remembers
The longest -- for the friend --
Is integral -- and therefore
Itself dissolved -- of God --(Read full poem)

17. This Life - written by Grace Paley
From Begin Again, Collected Poems. Published in 2001. Read 2139 times on American Poems.

My friend tells me
a man in my house jumped off the roof
the roof is the eighth floor of this building
the roof door was locked   how did he manage?
his girlfriend had said   goodbye I'm leaving
he was 22
his mother and father were hurrying
at that... (Read full poem)

Candor -- my tepid friend --
Come not to play with me --
The Myrrhs, and Mochas, of the Mind
Are its iniquity --(Read full poem)

19. Dream Song 32: And where, friend Quo, lay you hiding - written by John Berryman
From 77 Dream Songs. Published in 1964. Read 635 times on American Poems.

And where, friend Quo, lay you hiding
across malignant half my years or so?
One evil faery
it was workt night, with amoroso pleasing
menace, the panes shake
where Lie-by-the-fire is waiting for his cream.

A tiger by a torrent in rain,... (Read full poem)

As we hurry away to the end, my friend,
Of this sad little farce called existence,
We are sure that the future will bring one thing,
And that is the grave in the distance.
And so when our lives run along all wrong,
And nothing seems real or... (Read full poem)

21. Oh, Oh, You Will Be Sorry - written by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Read 6478 times on American Poems.

Oh, oh, you will be sorry for that word!
Give me back my book and take my kiss instead.
Was it my enemy or my friend I heard,
"What a big book for such a little head!"
Come, I will show you now my newest hat,
And you may watch me purse my mouth and... (Read full poem)

Friend of my youth, let us talk of old times; 
Of the long lost golden hours. 
When "Winter" meant only Christmas chimes, 
And "Summer" wreaths of flowers. 
Life has grown old, and cold, my friend, 
And the winter now, means death. 
And... (Read full poem)

23. Dream Song 127: Again, his friend's death made the man sit still - written by John Berryman
From His Toy, His Dream, His Rest. Published in 1968. Read 1013 times on American Poems.

Again, his friend's death made the man sit still
and freeze inside—his daughter won first price—
his wife scowled over at him—
It seemed to be Hallowe'en.
His friend's death had been adjudged suicide,
which dangles a... (Read full poem)

Christmas was in the air and all was well
With him, but for a few confusing flaws
In divers of God's images. Because
A friend of his would neither buy nor sell,
Was he to answer for the axe that fell?
He pondered; and the reason for it was,
Partly,... (Read full poem)

25. Loyalty - written by James Tate
From Worshipful Company of Fletchers. Read 11340 times on American Poems.

This is the hardest part:
When I came back to life
I was a good family dog
and not too friendly to strangers.
I got a thirty-five dollar raise
in salary, and through the pea-soup fogs 
I drove the General, and introduced him 
at rallies. I... (Read full poem)