1. Old Osawatomie - written by Carl Sandburg
From Cornhuskers. Published in 1918. Read 1204 times on American Poems.

JOHN BROWN’S body under the morning stars.
Six feet of dust under the morning stars.
And a panorama of war performs itself
Over the six-foot stage of circling armies.
Room for Gettysburg, Wilderness, Chickamauga,
On a six-foot stage of dust.(Read full poem)

I read last Saturday in the
redwoods outside of Santa Cruz
and I was about 3/4's finished
when I heard a long high scream
and a quite attractive 
young girl came running toward me
long gown & divine eyes of fire
and she leaped up on the... (Read full poem)

3. Inscription for the Ceiling of a Bedroom - written by Dorothy Parker
From Enough Rope. Published in 1926. Read 4255 times on American Poems.

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)

The little voices of the prairie dogs 
Are tireless . . . 
They will give three hurrahs 
Alike to stage, equestrian, and pullman, 
And all unstingingly as to the moon. 

And Fifi's bows and poodle ease 
Whirl by them centred on the lap 
Of Lottie... (Read full poem)

5. Hamlet Off-Stage: Mel Gibson Dolls It - written by D.C. Berry
Read 454 times on American Poems.

Mel Gibson's Hamlet stinks -- doll Mel. Wind up
Mel and Mel's eyes glaze into porcelain,
blue gulfs of earnestness, and Gertrude
sucks it up, swilling Mel's sincerity --
Makes me want to haul off and retch my speech
about the dew, dissolve... (Read full poem)

The poem of the mind in the act of finding
What will suffice. It has not always had
To find: the scene was set; it repeated what
Was in the script.
Then the theatre was changed
To something else. Its past was a souvenir.

It has to be living, to... (Read full poem)

7. Wallflower - written by Anne Sexton
Read 4533 times on American Poems.

Come friend, 
I have an old story to tell you—

Listen.
Sit down beside me and listen.
My face is red with sorrow 
and my breasts are made of straw.
I sit in the ladder-back chair
in a corner of the polished stage.
I have forgiven all the old... (Read full poem)

When with me the play she goes,
I much admire the buds and bows
And all that on Kate’s headgear grows.
But when some other night I see
That hat between the stage and me,
My taste and Kate’s do not agree.(Read full poem)

9. Of the Four Ages of Man - written by Anne Bradstreet
Read 1108 times on American Poems.

Lo, now four other act upon the stage,
Childhood and Youth, the Many and Old age:
The first son unto phlegm, grandchild to water,
Unstable, supple, cold and moist's his nature
The second, frolic, claims his pedigree
From blood and air, for hot... (Read full poem)

Our mascot lives low, a baby alligator.
She's our happy-and-sad mask all at once,
Mona Lisa her name. She's my ideal,
her wrap-around grin both a smile and snarl.(Read full poem)

11. Hamlet Off-Stage: Hambeau Heartbroke Horny - written by D.C. Berry
Read 624 times on American Poems.

Ophelia claims we're dead and gives me back
all my Frank Zappa and the Mothers albums.
I nearly claw out of my shell and say,
"You can't," but for a moment I've nothing
to quote. I'm rot, mortis of broken heart.
Hog wash! Lovers don't... (Read full poem)

—Thass a funny title, Mr Bones.
—When down she saw her feet, sweet fish, on the threshold,
she considered her fair shoulders
and all them hundreds who have them, all
the more who to her mime thickened & maled
from the supple... (Read full poem)

13. Dream Song 68: I heard, could be, a Hey there from the wing - written by John Berryman
From 77 Dream Songs. Published in 1964. Read 844 times on American Poems.

I heard, could be, a Hey there from the wing,
and I went on: Miss Bessie soundin good
that one, that night of all,
I feelin fari myself, taxes & things
seem to be back in line, like everybody should
and nobody in the snow on call

so, as I... (Read full poem)

In the dream
the swastika is neon
and flashes like a strobe light
into my eyes, all colors,
all vibrations
and I see the killer in him
and he turns on an oven,
an oven, an oven, an oven,
and on a pie plate he sticks
in my Yellow Star
and then
then... (Read full poem)

15. 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)

Neutrinos do zip but swap back and forth
into each other, much like Rosypoop
and Guildendoo do. For years it was thought
neutrinos hung out weightless as R&G.
No longer. Scientists have discovered
neutrinos possess mass. Though... (Read full poem)

17. Metaphors - written by Sylvia Plath
From The Collected Poems. Published in 1959. Read 93945 times on American Poems.

I'm a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.
Money's new-minted in this fat purse.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in... (Read full poem)

For quick mental hygiene, the snail's my white
mobile clinic, Dr. Hoodoo inside.
Seriously. The snail's my man. He's shy,
shows speedy patience and plays safe, keeps his
hard hat on should a curve come on too fast.
And paves his road in case... (Read full poem)

19. Reading Moby-Dick at 30,000 Feet - written by Tony Hoagland
Read 818 times on American Poems.

At this height, Kansas
is just a concept,
a checkerboard design of wheat and corn

no larger than the foldout section
of my neighbor's travel magazine.
At this stage of the journey

I would estimate the distance
between myself and my own... (Read full poem)

Laertes has groupies, proof he has taste,
has cool. Wears skate-board clothes: elephant pants,
the crotch snagging his knees, tent-size tee-shirt.
He wants the play staged at a roller rink:
him, Fortinbras, and me wearing in-lines,
the rest in... (Read full poem)

21. Personal Poem Processor - written by Bill Knott
Read 981 times on American Poems.

I swear the word insanity has two i's,
It Bears itself what it brands schizophrenia,
But if my diary is my obituary's
Childhood, do I hit Delete to update?

The northern none, the southern some, the eastern
Each and the western who are all to... (Read full poem)

having the low down blues and going
into a restraunt to eat.
you sit at a table.
the waitress smiles at you.
she's dumpy. her ass is too big.
she radiates kindess and symphaty.
live with her 3 months and a man would no real agony.
o.k., you'll tip... (Read full poem)

23. Dream Song 37: Three around the Old Gentleman - written by John Berryman
From 77 Dream Songs. Published in 1964. Read 638 times on American Poems.

His malice was a pimple down his good
big face, with its sly eyes. I must be sorry
Mr Frost has left:
I like it so less I don't understood—
he couldn't hear or see well—all we sift—
but this is a bad story.

He had fine... (Read full poem)

Gus is the Cat at the Theatre Door.
His name, as I ought to have told you before,
Is really Asparagus. That's such a fuss
To pronounce, that we usually call him just Gus.
His coat's very shabby, he's thin as a rake,
And he suffers from palsy that... (Read full poem)

25. An Opera House - written by Amy Lowell
From Men, Women and Ghosts. Read 1458 times on American Poems.

Within the gold square of the proscenium arch,
A curtain of orange velvet hangs in stiff folds,
Its tassels jarring slightly when someone crosses the stage behind.
Gold carving edges the balconies,
Rims the boxes,
Runs up and down fluted... (Read full poem)