The Poetry Foundation

Filter Results

Characteristics of Life
By Camille T. Dungy
Ask me if I speak for the snail and I will tell you
I speak for the snail.
speak of underneathedness
and the welcome of mosses,
of life that springs up,
little lives that pull back and wait for a moment.
75 ["Wake, butterfly"]
By Bashō
Translated By Lucien Stryk
Wake, butterfly—
it's late, we've miles
to go together.
Passage
By Jack Collom
"When one is seen gliding through the woods and close to the observer, it passes like a thought, and…
Grief is a Mouse
By Emily Dickinson
Grief is a Mouse—
And chooses Wainscot in the Breast
For His shy House—
And baffles quest—
The Vulture & the Body
By Ada Limón
On my way to the fertility clinic,
I pass five dead animals.

First a raccoon with all four paws…
The Two-headed Calf
By Laura Gilpin
Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature, they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry …
Probability and Birds
By Russell Atkins
The probability in the yard: 
The rodent keeps the cat close by; 
The cat would sharp at the bird; 
The…
Our Heron
By William Olsen
Observation isn’t serious play. It is living serious. Same heron. It’s used to us, we are as twilight…
Disentangling a Gray Whale
By Maya Khosla
Water minus air becomes wound.
Her blowhole, bursts of breathing,
trapped in an endless curtain of netting…
Buzzard
By Milan Děžinský
Translated By Nathan Fields
I had taken him to his mother
and was returning along the D8.
In the breakdown lane several cars, and …
The Covenant
By Brenda Hillman
Having stopped using dolphins to locate explosives in the Cold War
they had 30 leftover dolphins.
An officer…
- Nature
- Animals
- Living
- Marriage & Companionship
- Midlife
- Time & Brevity
- Techniques
- Imagery
- Metaphor
- + 2 more
Caterpillar ("Brown and furry")
By Christina Rossetti
Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry,
Take your walk
To the shady leaf, or stalk,
Or what not,
Which…
Lockdown Gardens: "Set with raindrops"
By Arvind Krishna Mehrotra
Set with raindrops, displayed
between the king’s mantle and the litchi tree,
was the cobweb I almost walked…
From within my bodily singularity
By Julia Fiedorczuk
Translated By Bill Johnston
From within my bodily singularity
I play at sending out gentle sunbeams.
I don't believe in myself, but…
Cyrus & the Snakes
By Ada Limón
My brother holds a snake by its head. The whole
            length of the snake is the length

of my brother’s body. The snake’s head
            is held safely, securely, as if my brother

is showing him something in the distant high grass.
            I...
The Magnificent Frigatebird
By Ada Limón
Is it okay to begin with the obvious? I am full of stones—
is it okay not to look out this window, but to look out another?

A mentor once said, You can't start a poem...
Calling Things What They Are
By Ada Limón
I pass the feeder and yell, Grackle party! And then an hour later I yell, Mourning dove afterparty! (I call the feeder the party and the seed on the ground the afterparty.) I am getting so good at watching that...
Twenty-Third Amanita Ode: New Tatters
By Peter O’Leary
The great spastic glass of the Sun
in winter's going glare. :: Wind's antic helicoid
winding upward through…
[I saw a herd of toads]
By Tilsa Otta
Translated By Farid Matuk
I saw a herd of toads in the gully of my reflection
Staring at each other arguing over insects
It wasn…
[Vi una manada de sapos…]
By Tilsa Otta
Vi una manada de sapos mirándose entre ellos
Discutiendo insectos en el cauce de mi reflejo
No fue rom…

Quick Tags

Explore Poems: Animals

Characteristics of Life

75 ["Wake, butterfly"]

Passage

Grief is a Mouse

The Vulture & the Body

The Two-headed Calf

Probability and Birds

Our Heron

Disentangling a Gray Whale

Buzzard

The Covenant

Caterpillar ("Brown and furry")

Lockdown Gardens: "Set with raindrops"

From within my bodily singularity

Cyrus & the Snakes

The Magnificent Frigatebird

Calling Things What They Are

Twenty-Third Amanita Ode: New Tatters

[I saw a herd of toads]

[Vi una manada de sapos…]

poetry-magazine[Vi una manada de sapos…]

[Vi una manada de sapos…]