Poets encouraged to carry forward the incredible work of Chicago’s inaugural Poet Laureate, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Chicago Public Library, and the Poetry Foundation to bring poetry to the people—apply from April 17 to May 29, 2025.
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Essay
By Nancy Naomi Carlson
One could almost draw an analogy between relative pitch in music and a similar concept in translation, where context is everything.
Audio
Poetry Off the Shelf
Catherine-Esther Cowie on Saint Lucia, breathing life into history, and the violence in our heart.
Audio
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On today’s episode, Ajanaé and Brittany talk to Vanessa Angélica Villarreal! Listen in as they discuss mushrooms, quantum entanglements, borders, the ethics of daughters…
Essay
By Hannah Bonner
In The Rose, Ariana Reines offers an alternative to feminism’s well-worn obsession with women’s empowerment.
Poem of the day
it was the truest thing to say a sisterhood
born of struggling and dreaming and training
...

FROM THE CURRENT ISSUE OF
Poetry Magazine
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Once I learned I could have the last word
I couldn’t stop having
I couldn’t stop having
it.
Once I learned I could have the last word
I couldn’t stop having
I couldn’t stop having
it.
Poem
By Bhion Achimba
Poem
By Maxine Hong Kingston
Translated By Chun Yu
Poem
By Shara McCallum
Diné bizaad is a language of patience and cunning. It is quiet, in the distance, like a coming
storm.
Diné bizaad is a language of patience and cunning. It is quiet, in the distance, like a coming
storm.
Article
By Kimberly Blaeser
Poem
By Sherwin Bitsui
Poem
By Nia Francisco
The clearest memory I have of my friend: his body perched like a sparrow atop the tallest
tree.
The clearest memory I have of my friend: his body perched like a sparrow atop the tallest
tree.
Poem
By Jesse Holth
Poem
By Miguel A. Vega
Poem
By Allison Swenson
The hoot of being alive. Name it
whatever you
whatever you
like.
The hoot of being alive. Name it
whatever you
whatever you
like.
Poem
By Patrick Dundon
Poem
By francine j. harris
Poem
By Antonio Gamoneda
Translated By Katherine M. Hedeen & Víctor Rodríguez Núñez
The Poetry Foundation recognizes the power of words to transform lives. We work to amplify poetry and celebrate poets by fostering spaces for all to create, experience, and share poetry.
Featured Poets

Dunya Mikhail
B. 1965Dunya Mikhail
Iraqi American poet Dunya Mikhail is the author of numerous poetry collections: The War Works Hard (…. Read More
Poem
By Dunya Mikhail
Translated By Kareem James Abu-Zeid
Audio
Prose from Poetry Magazine
By Kazim Ali, Jericho Brown, Carolyn Forché, Joy Harjo, Jane Hirshfield, Fanny Howe, Dunya Mikhail, Gregory Orr, Alicia Ostriker, Grace Paley, Gerald Stern, Jean Valentine, G.C. Waldrep & Eleanor Wilner