1. Luck is not chance -- - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 5823 times on American Poems.

Luck is not chance --
It's Toil --
Fortune's expensive smile
Is earned --
The Father of the Mine
Is that old-fashioned Coin
We spurned --(Read full poem)

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?  
            I will declare thy name unto my brethren.…         Psalm 102

OK.  Let’s not call what ditched us God:
ghu, the root in Sanskrit, means not God,
but only the calling thereupon.  Let’s... (Read full poem)

3. Crapshooters - written by Carl Sandburg
From Smoke and Steel. Published in 1922. Read 1578 times on American Poems.

SOMEBODY loses whenever somebody wins.
This was known to the Chaldeans long ago.
And more: somebody wins whenever somebody loses.
This too was in the savvy of the Chaldeans.
  
They take it heaven’s hereafter is an eternity of crap games where... (Read full poem)

I reached up into the top of the closet
and took out a pair of blue panties
and showed them to her and
asked "are these yours?" 
and she looked and said,
"no, those belong to a dog." 
she left after that and I haven't seen
her... (Read full poem)

5. The Routine Things Around The House - written by Stephen Dunn
From Stephen Dunn -- New and Selected Poems 1974 - 1994. Read 2124 times on American Poems.

When Mother died
I thought: now I'll have a death poem.
That was unforgivable.

Yet I've since forgiven myself
as sons are able to do
who've been loved by their mothers.

I stared into the coffin
knowing how long she'd live,
how many lifetimes there... (Read full poem)

THEY put up big wooden gods.
Then they burned the big wooden gods
And put up brass gods and
Changing their minds suddenly
Knocked down the brass gods and put up
A doughface god with gold earrings.
The poor mutts, the pathetic slant heads,
They... (Read full poem)

7. Wedding-Ring - written by Denise Levertov
Read 4483 times on American Poems.

My wedding-ring lies in a basket 
as if at the bottom of a well. 
Nothing will come to fish it back up 
and onto my finger again. 
                    It lies 
among keys to abandoned houses, 
nails waiting to be needed and hammered 
into... (Read full poem)

Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch's wife
           He would have written sonnets all his life?
                          DON JUAN, III, 63-4

"Where do you see yourself five years from now?"
the eldest male member (or is "male member"
a... (Read full poem)

9. good times - written by Lucille Clifton
Published in 1987. Read 3258 times on American Poems.

my daddy has paid the rent
and the insurance man is gone
and the lights is back on
and my uncle brud has hit
for one dollar straight
and they is good times
good times
good times

my mama has made bread
and grampaw has come
and everybody... (Read full poem)

I am, outside. Incredible panic rules.
People are blowing and beating each other without mercy.
Drinks are boiling. Iced
drinks are boiling. The worse anyone feels, the worse
treated he is. Fools elect fools.
A harmless man at an intersection... (Read full poem)

11. Good to hide, and hear 'em hunt! - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 1489 times on American Poems.

Good to hide, and hear 'em hunt!
Better, to be found,
If one care to, that is,
The Fox fits the Hound --

Good to know, and not tell,
Best, to know and tell,
Can one find the rare Ear
Not too dull --(Read full poem)

The hunter crouches in his blind
'Neath camouflage of every kind
And conjures up a quacking noise
To lend allure to his decoys
This grown-up man, with pluck and luck
is hoping to outwit a duck(Read full poem)

13. My Portion is Defeat -- today -- - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 2037 times on American Poems.

My Portion is Defeat -- today --
A paler luck than Victory --
Less Paeans -- fewer Bells --
The Drums don't follow Me -- with tunes --
Defeat -- a somewhat slower -- means --
More Arduous than Balls --

'Tis populous with Bone and stain --
And Men... (Read full poem)

Shh! on a twine hung from disastered trees
Henry is swinging his daughter. They seem drunk.
Over across them look out,
tranquil, the high statues of the wise.
Her feet peep, like a lady's in sleep sunk.
That which this scene's... (Read full poem)

15. Luck - written by Charles Bukowski
Read 3743 times on American Poems.

once
we were young
at this
machine. . .
drinking
smoking
typing
it was a most 
splendid
miraculous
time
still
is
only now
instead of
moving toward
time
it 
moves toward 
us
makes each word 
drill 
into the
paper
clear
fast
hard
feeding... (Read full poem)

How good his Lava Bed,
To this laborious Boy --
Who must be up to call the World
And dress the sleepy Day --(Read full poem)

17. The good Will of a Flower - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 1547 times on American Poems.

The good Will of a Flower
The Man who would possess
Must first present
Certificate
Of minted Holiness.(Read full poem)

This wild night, gathering the washing as if it were flowers animal vines twisting over the line and
slapping my face lightly, soundless merriment
in the gesticulations of shirtsleeves,
I recall out of my joy a night of misery

walking in the... (Read full poem)

19. There came whisperings in the winds - written by Stephen Crane
From The Black Riders & Other Lines. Published in 1905. Read 4376 times on American Poems.

There came whisperings in the winds:
"Good-bye! Good-bye!"
Little voices called in the darkness:
"Good-bye! Good-bye!"
Then I stretched forth my arms.
"No -- no -- "
There came whisperings in the wind
"Good-bye! Good-bye!"
Little voices called in... (Read full poem)

We are born with luck
which is to say with gold in our mouth.
As new and smooth as a grape,
as pure as a pond in Alaska,
as good as the stem of a green bean--
we are born and that ought to be enough,
we ought to be able to carry on from that
but one... (Read full poem)

21. Good night, because we must, - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 6590 times on American Poems.

Good night, because we must,
How intricate the dust!
I would go, to know!
Oh incognito!
Saucy, Saucy Seraph
To elude me so!
Father! they won't tell me,
Won't you tell them to?(Read full poem)

"Hullo, Alice!"
"Hullo, Leon!"
"Say, Alice, gi' me a couple
O' them two for five cigars,
Will yer?"
"Where's your nickel?"
"My!  Ain't you close!
Can't trust a feller, can yer."
"Trust you!  Why
What you owe this store
Would set you up in... (Read full poem)

23. To A Poor Old Woman - written by William Carlos Williams
Read 7263 times on American Poems.

munching a plum on
the street a paper bag
of them in her hand

They taste good to her
They taste good
to her. They taste
good to her

You can see it by
the way she gives herself
to the one half
sucked out in her hand

Comforted
a solace of ripe... (Read full poem)

Winter is good -- his Hoar Delights
Italic flavor yield
To Intellects inebriate
With Summer, or the World --

Generic as a Quarry
And hearty -- as a Rose --
Invited with Asperity
But welcome when he goes.(Read full poem)

25. One Perfect Rose - written by Dorothy Parker
From Enough Rope. Published in 1926. Read 11259 times on American Poems.

A single flow'r he sent me, since we met.
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet-
One perfect rose.

I knew the language of the floweret;
"My fragile leaves," it said, "his heart enclose."
Love long has... (Read full poem)