1. Where It Was At Back Then - written by Anne Sexton
Read 2442 times on American Poems.

Husband,
last night I dreamt
they cut off your hands and feet.
Husband,
you whispered to me,
Now we are both incomplete.

Husband,
I held all four
in my arms like sons and daughters.
Husband,
I bent slowly down
and washed them in magical... (Read full poem)

An old woman likes to melt her husband. She puts him in
a melting device, and he pours out the other end in a hot
bloody syrup, which she catches in a series of little husband
molds. 

  What splatters on the floor the dog licks up. 

  When they... (Read full poem)

3. The Rat's Tight Schedule - written by Russell Edson
Read 1464 times on American Poems.

A man stumbled on some rat droppings.
  Hey, who put those there? That's dangerous, he said.
  His wife said, those are pieces of a rat.
  Wait, he's coming apart, he's all over the floor, said the
husband.
  He can't help it; you don't think he... (Read full poem)

Wife
Reach out your arms, and hold me close and fast.
Tell me there are no memories of your past
That mar this love of ours, so great, so vast.

Husband
Some truths are cheapened when too oft averred.
Does not the deed speak louder than the... (Read full poem)

5. Mrs. George Reece - written by Edgar Lee Masters
Read 581 times on American Poems.

To this generation I would say:
Memorize some bit of verse of truth or beauty.
It may serve a turn in your life.
My husband had nothing to do
With the fall of the bank -- he was only cashier.
The wreck was due to the president, Thomas... (Read full poem)

Have you seen walking through the village
A man with downcast eyes and haggard face?
That is my husband who, by secret cruelty
never to be told, robbed me of my youth and my beauty;
Till at last, wrinkled and with yellow teeth,
And with broken... (Read full poem)

7. A Baby In The House - written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Read 2612 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)

FELIKSOWA has gone again from our house and this time for good, I hope.
She and her husband took with them the cow father gave them, and they sold it.
She went like a swine, because she called neither on me, her brother, nor on her father, before... (Read full poem)

9. Mrs. Merritt - written by Edgar Lee Masters
Read 500 times on American Poems.

Silent before the jury,
Returning no word to the judge when he asked me
If I had aught to say against the sentence,
Only shaking my head.
What could I say to people who thought
That a woman of thirty-five was at fault
When her lover of... (Read full poem)

According to Culture Shock:
A Guide to Customs and Etiquette 
of Filipinos, when my husband says yes,
he could also mean one of the following:
a.) I don't know.
b.) If you say so.
c.) If it will please you.
d.) I hope I have said yes... (Read full poem)

11. Erasing Amyloo - written by Russell Edson
Read 954 times on American Poems.

A father with a huge eraser erases his daughter. When he 
finishes there's only a red smudge on the wall.
  His wife says, where is Amyloo?
  She's a mistake, I erased her.
  What about all her lovely things? asks his wife.
  I'll erase them too.... (Read full poem)

O Lord, Thou hear'st my daily moan 
And see'st my dropping tears. 
My troubles all are Thee before, 
My longings and my fears.

Thou hitherto hast been my God; 
Thy help my soul hath found. 
Though loss and sickness me assailed, 
Through... (Read full poem)

13. A Holiday - written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Read 1057 times on American Poems.

The Wife
The house is like a garden,
The children are the flowers,
The gardener should come methinks
And walk among his bowers,
Oh! lock the door on worry
And shut your cares away,
Not time of year, but love and cheer,
Will make a... (Read full poem)

He tells you when you've got on
     too much lipstick
And helps you with your girdle
     when your hips stick.(Read full poem)

15. Dedication For A Plot Of Ground - written by William Carlos Williams
Read 4088 times on American Poems.

This plot of ground 
facing the waters of this inlet 
is dedicated to the living presence of 
Emily Dickinson Wellcome 
who was born in England; married; 
lost her husband and with 
her five year old son 
sailed for New York in a two-master; 
was... (Read full poem)

I say to my woman, "Jeffers was 
a great poet. think of a title
like Be Angry At The Sun. don't you 
realize how great that is?

"you like that negative stuff." she 
says

"positively," I agree, finishing my
drink and pouring another.
"in one of... (Read full poem)

17. To You. - written by Walt Whitman
From Leaves of Grass. Published in 1900. Read 5582 times on American Poems.

LET us twain walk aside from the rest; 
Now we are together privately, do you discard ceremony, 
Come! vouchsafe to me what has yet been vouchsafed to none—Tell me the whole story, 
Tell me what you would not tell your brother, wife, husband,... (Read full poem)

I had sex with a famous poet last night 
and when I rolled over and found myself beside him I shuddered 
because I was married to someone else, 
because I wasn't supposed to have been drinking,
because I was in fancy hotel room
I didn't... (Read full poem)

19. Turns And Movies: Zudora - written by Conrad Aiken
Read 1472 times on American Poems.

Here on the pale beach, in the darkness; 
With the full moon just to rise; 
They sit alone, and look over the sea, 
Or into each other's eyes. . .

She pokes her parasol into the sleepy sand, 
Or sifts the lazy whiteness through her hand.

'A lovely... (Read full poem)

I'm a very average person,
and I think most people are.
I vote with the common man.
I have two kids, a boy and a girl.
Last Sunday I played golf with the boss.
Hey, it beats working.
I'm his wife. I may be brainless but
I'm her husband. I played... (Read full poem)

21. Ape - written by Russell Edson
Published in 1976. Read 3182 times on American Poems.

You haven't finished your ape, said mother to father, 
who had monkey hair and blood on his whiskers.

  I've had enough monkey, cried father.

  You didn't eat the hands, and I went to all the 
trouble to make onion rings for its fingers, said... (Read full poem)

Henry got me with child, 
Knowing that I could not bring forth life 
Without losing my own. 
In my youth therefore I entered the portals of dust. 
Traveler, it is believed in the village where I lived 
That Henry loved me with a husband's... (Read full poem)

23. Alone - written by Deborah Ager
From La Petite Zine. Read 11281 times on American Poems.

Over the fence, the dead settle in
for a journey. Nine o'clock.
You are alone for the first time
today. Boys asleep. Husband out.

A beer bottle sweats in your hand,
and sea lavender clogs the air
with perfume. Think of yourself.
Your arms... (Read full poem)

AMONG the men and women, the multitude, 
I perceive one picking me out by secret and divine signs, 
Acknowledging none else—not parent, wife, husband, brother, child, any nearer than I
    am; 
Some are baffled—But that one is... (Read full poem)

25. Flashbacks - written by Bill Knott
Read 859 times on American Poems.

All it takes is Laura Riding's riding-
crop across my butt, and I'm off:
Git-up horsie she cries astride me as

I crash sweetly onto the carpet.
Boredom what an esthetic,
cleansing the days-
I laud the vintage of my toothpick.

Small-husband to the... (Read full poem)